Let's all go Dunkirking
Written by Martin Rowson
in
Poetry
Words by Martin Rowson, music by Jon Tregenna, sung by Jane Wiliams
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
What if there was no divide?
Written by Jane Burn
in
Poetry
What if there was no divide? by Jane Burn What if life, for so many of us wasn’t a chasm? You only have a basic understanding. It’s complex – not quite as simple as that. What would the famished do with money, after all? They’d only spend it. Yes. On…
Bread and Roses Poetry Award 2020: The winners!
Written by Mike Quille
in
Poetry
This year the judges, Andy Croft of Smokestack Books and Mary Sayer from Unite, picked seven rather than five poems which they thought worthy winners of the Award. So Unite have kindly agreed to provide additional prize money this year for all seven poems. The winners are Handbook for 2021…
The cry of the poor from inner-city Dublin: Sacred Symphony
in
Poetry
Written by
Mike Quille
Sacred Symphony is a new collection of poems on life in inner-city Dublin, by Karl Parkinson, with photographs by Peter O'Doherty. It includes All the Swings are Gone and is introduced by Father Peter McVerry, who concludes with these words: Those who are economically unproductive are considered a drain on…
Only use words if you have to: Homily of Francis
in
Poetry
Written by
Geraldine Clarkson
Geraldine Clarkson introduces her new collection When in the last two months before publication of my first full poetry collection, Monica’s Overcoat of Flesh — the progress of which had been variously plagued by bereavements, the loss of a home, and complicated publishing scenarios — the final compiling and proofreading…
The possibility of happiness: Maurice Levitas, the Spanish Civil War, and Pablo Neruda
in
Poetry
Written by
David Betteridge
In the year of the CPB centenary, David Betteridge remembers Maurice Levitas, stalwart of the CPGB and a veteran of Cable St. and the Spanish Civil War You have made me build upon reality as upon a rock...You have made me see the logic of the world and the possibility…
Living in dark times: the poetry of Bertolt Brecht
in
Poetry
Written by
Edward Mackinnon
Edward Mackinnon shows how Brecht successfully integrated Marxist theory into his poetic practice “What is robbing a bank compared with founding a bank?” “In the dark timesWill there also be singing?Yes, there will also be singing.About the dark times” “And I always thought the very simplest wordsShould be enough. If…
Ready to Go to Work
Written by Fred Voss
in
Poetry
Ready to Go to Work by Fred Voss A machinist bites into his morning appleas the sun riseson his workbench before him are 1/8th to ½-inch Allen wrenchesfor turning socket-head cap screwstight5/16th to 1-and-¼-inch crescent wrenches for turning any hex-nutin the shopand the apple in his mouth is sweet as…
Rogues
Written by Christopher Norris
in
Poetry
Rogues by Christopher Norris The most ‘roguish’ of rogue states are those that circulate and make use of a concept like ‘rogue state’, with the language, rhetoric, juridical discourse, and strategico-military consequences we all know. The first and most violent of rogue states are those that have ignored and continue…
Past the Pastoral
Written by Martin Rowson
in
Poetry
Past The Pastoral by Martin Rowson By now I reckon I'm way past the pastoral,Beyond beguilementImmunised against contagious charms The shallowed streams of dappled glamourContrived to pogrom trout;The hedgerows' anarchism, fecund mutualityShouldered like everything into the margins,Edged out, then forced to fortress theMultiple stab wounds of tilled fields;The monotony of…
One law for the rich........
Written by Martin Gollan
in
Poetry
