Poetry

It goes on one at a time,
it starts when you care to act,
it starts when you do it again after they said no,
it starts when you say we and know who you mean,
and each day you mean one more.

Marge Piercy

Monday, 20 September 2021 15:33

Trip Advisor

Written by Martin Rowson

in Poetry

Trip Advisor by Martin Rowson When you breakfast with the cunts who put the cunt in Countryhouse HotelYou have to wonder if a single one of them would then go tellThe children who have served them with their honeyed quinoa what they’re worthAnd how meagre are the scraps the meek…

Monday, 20 September 2021 09:33

The Cry of the Poor

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

Culture Matters is proud to announce the publication and launch of The Cry of the Poor: An Anthology of Radical Writing About Poverty, selected and edited by Fran Lock. Featuring poetry, short stories, life-writing, essays and art by over one hundred contributors from around the world, this ambitious anthology asks…

Tuesday, 14 September 2021 09:49

Sisterhood, Socialism, and Struggle: Poetry and the Work of Solidarity

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

As I sit down to write this column the 40th anniversary of the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp is fast approaching, with hundreds of women planning to retrace the 130 mile march from Cardiff to Greenham in order to honour the legacy of those who founded the camp, and who…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Sunday, 12 September 2021 10:07

A Just Transition for Workers

in Poetry

Written by Mick Drury

A Just Transition for Workers by Mick Drury ‘Get a job you wankers’ shouts the irate fist passing in his 4x4.Others wave and blow their horns. Outside the petro plant for eleven hours now,it’s been cold and wet.The workers come and go,and most don't want to know. The press have…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 09 September 2021 13:44

Father Mathew Asks To Be Removed

in Poetry

Written by Gabriel Rosenstock

An iconic statue in Cork conceals a dark secret, as Gabriel Rosenstock reveals in a poem in Irish and English. Father Mathew Asks To Be Removed by Gabriel Rosenstock “Servants [recte ‘slaves’] be obedient to them that are your masters . . .” Ephesians, VI, 5-7Take me down,take me down…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 07 September 2021 15:27

Culture Matters presents: the launch of Cry of the Poor

in Poetry

Written by Fran Lock

'Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.' – Matthew 25:29 We need to change the system. We need to overthrow, not the government [...] but this rotten, decadent, putrid industrial capitalist system which breeds such suffering – Dorothy…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 06 September 2021 10:12

Anthropocaust

in Poetry

Written by Rip Bulkeley

Anthropocaust by Rip Bulkeley Cassandra never smiled. Devastation,though future for others, was her constantreality. En route to the death campspeople were still together, had luggage,and could try to look forward. Even afterbeing stripped and selected, there mayhave been distractions, conversation;but oven fodder did not smile. Our delusions are the disgracefulmystery…

Monday, 06 September 2021 09:37

My body is not your soapbox

Written by Cheryl Vail

in Poetry

My body is not your soapbox by Cheryl Vail you are not the arbiter of my curve appealthe constable ticketing the lack of a gap between thighsor the angle of sharp elbows my orifices are not your sink holesyou’re not the border agent stationed at my labia you’re not the…

Monday, 30 August 2021 10:40

Culture Matters Presents: A New Monthly Digital Reading Series

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

Culture Matters is excited to invite you to the first in a monthly series of online readings on Saturday the 4th of September at 7:00 PM. GMT. The event is hosted by Culture Matters and features two Culture Matters poets alongside two guest poets from a fellow independent press. The…

Sunday, 29 August 2021 21:42

The Neo-colonialist Dreams

Written by Kevin Higgins

in Poetry

The Neo-colonialist Dreams by Kevin Higgins Of moving the horn of Africa to the same time zone as Wisconsin. Of teaching Somalishow to properly appreciate cheese.Of surgeons named Nathaniel or Chadoffering the women of Kandaharthe right to choose for themselvesa different face for every occasion. The inalienable right to drive…

Afghanistan

Saturday, 28 August 2021 06:47

Afghan Ali

Written by Martin Hayes

in Poetry

Afghan Ali – courier call sign CH Four-Three-Eight by Martin Hayes he lays flatbreads over a bare gas flame in a shared kitchen above a Spar in Walthamstowfilling them with dreams that their mother used to fill them with betterbefore she lost her head to the Aegean Seahis son makes…