Once I had a pocket full of change,
once I had a wallet full of notes,
once –
once I wore nothing round my neck,
I owned dresses and shoes and coats.
But now I've got a choker with an empty locket on it
and now I've got a cheque book with no cheques in it –
and now I'm so broke I live on promises:
they are the promises you tied around my neck;
oh now I'm so broke I open up the rubbish bags
and use what I threw out.
I bring it back into the house and use it –
that's how broke you made me.

Tara Bergin is shortlisted for the Forward Prize 2017 for her second collection, ‘The Tragic Death of Eleanor Marx’, from which today’s poem is taken. The winner will announced on September 21st