This work was first published in Spread the Word’s Young Writers Collective Anthology, 2025. This anthology stands as a testament to the courage, creativity, and growth of a remarkable group of young poets who have spent seven months exploring the power of language and self-expression. The anthology is more than a collection of poems—it is a celebration of emerging voices, of stories told with boldness and vulnerability.
All of the poems can be read here on our website, or you can download the Young Writer’s Collective Anthology to read as a PDF.
Smoking on a broken roof during a pandemic by Ellie Spirrett
And when I am about to leave,
he puts his fingers around my waist like a spliff.
This is the part I am good at,
being lit from my twisted-up head.
He holds me on his lips
and smokes me into the sky.
When I’m up there,
I stare at the city until it blinks.
I watch it slip in and out of lockdowns.
I watch it crush up another year.
He always says this city is so ugly
especially next to us.
We’ve been waiting for it to sick us up.
About Ellie Spirrett
Ellie Spirrett is a poet and member of Spread the Word’s Young Writers Collective. She writes about disability, ableism, friendship and the loneliness epidemic. Ellie is the self advocacy coordinator at Lewisham Speaking Up, an organisation that supports people with learning disabilities to campaign for their rights.