" A Working Class Poet Is Something To Be..."

How do I qualify
For this thing called 'working class'
It's not something you can say you are
While sounding middle class posh
Bold as brass.
For me it's about upbringing
As well as the voice
It's not something you attach to poetry
Giving credibility to your voice.
Saying you live in Sutton
Describing it as shit
Have you been to the Roundshaw or New Addington
Even I'd call those a pit.
You compare Sutton and Luton
Are you 'aving a bubble
One's nondescript egde of suburbia
The other's a Home Counties dump fit for rubble.
Even I wouldn't live in Luton
If you gave me a sackful of cash
And Sutton's got that saving grace
Of a Manze's for pie and mash.
Tonight was about the proletariat
But no-one dropping their aitches & t's
These weren't quite lah-di-dah
But it seemed like a posh wheeze.
I bet you've never encountered a debt collector
Or been banged up in a prison cell.
Or even been able to phone in sick
Cos you can't afford to be unwell.
I somehow doubt you know real poetry
Safe in your suburban home.
Daddy might have had an ordinary job
And nice garden with a gnome.
I've nothing against you or your poetry
Just your self-defined working class
From where I'm from you were comfortable
But I'll let it pass.
Hiding from the rent-man
That's working class poor
Someone breaking open your gas meter
Having kicked in your door.
Your mum having three cleaning jobs
To put school uniform your back
Not a problem you had in suburbia
I'm sure you were alright Jack
I know I shouldn't be so judgemental
We can call ourselves what we like
But to me you're not a working class poet
On your fucking bike!
I've no problem with your writing
Far more talented than me
I'm just saying you're not my sort of working class
Who had a council estate upbringing like me.

Dulwich Poet 6th April 2016

(I attended a free event at the Poetry Library, about working class poetry. It didn't seem too 'working class' to me...)