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

Friday, 04 December 2020 14:35

Amnesia of the Asylum-seeker

Written by Leah Fleetwood

in Poetry

Amnesia of the Asylum-seeker by Leah Fleetwood Who we were back then, it’s hard to recall:lawyers, actors, fruit-sellers at a stall;street-singers, clerics, or newssheet writers?How were we seen – kowtowers or fighters?Your need to process us is fair and no surprise – to thresh the facts from what you think…

Thursday, 03 December 2020 14:57

2020

Written by Tom Hubbard

in Poetry

2020 by Tom Hubbard Cardboard covers the flesh in a smitten street,While, immunised from sudden empathy,Flesh covers pasteboard as high chancers greetDank festivals of mediocrity.Their very bodies crust into a mask,And those who hark at them are marionettesOf paper that absorbs, who scarce will ask,And take no thought for future…

Wednesday, 02 December 2020 10:19

Callout for The Brown Envelope Book

Written by Alan Morrison

in Poetry

Alan Morrison calls for poems for The Brown Envelope Book: Poetry and prose on experiences of unemployment, the benefits system, and disability Call for Submissions Caparison Books in collaboration with Don't Go Breaking Our Arts (formerly Nothing4Something) Facebook group, and Culture Matters, is currently putting together an anthology of poetry…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 01 December 2020 09:21

The myth of the self-made man

in Poetry

Written by Paul Dovey

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 26 November 2020 10:45

See what life is like: an interview with Dorothy Spencer

in Poetry

Written by Fran Lock

Fran Lock interviews Dorothy Spencer, an editor at Lumpen journal, writer, poet and mental health worker. Her first collection, See What Life is Like was published by Lumpen this year. Her writing explores everyday tragedies; addiction, love, loneliness, and the absurd banality of late consumer capitalism. Hi Dorothy, and thanks…

Lumpen Journal Class Work Project

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 25 November 2020 09:50

Naked under 10,000-watt lightbulbs

in Poetry

Written by Fred Voss

Naked under 10,000-watt lightbulbs by Fred Voss We machinistsare lucky to have our machinesmachine handles we can grab when we are lonely green steel machine sides we can hide behind when we feel guilty or ashamedsteel machine tables we can drop 100-pound machinist vises onto and green steel machine headswe…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 20 November 2020 15:50

Prime Minister's Questions

in Poetry

Written by Rob Walton

Prime Minister’s Questions by Rob Walton, with image by Martin Gollan Are there any other countries you’d like to break?If you grow it out a bit, would you like me to cut it into a bob?Do you miss the good old days of racist newspaper columns?Is the dandruff cultivated to…

PMQs

Tuesday, 17 November 2020 10:29

What is Present: History, by John Berger

Written by David Betteridge

in Poetry

David Betteridge writes about the poem 'History' What interests me about the existence of archives is that you enter the past which is as it were in the present tense. And so it’s another way of people who lived in the past who perhaps are still living or perhaps are…

Tuesday, 17 November 2020 09:38

Shakespearean Tragedy

Written by Martin Rowson

in Poetry

Shakespearean Tragedy by Martin Rowson, with image by Martin Gollan They've painted King Lear Orange! He's mad as mad can be! Divides the state! Will Ivanka Be given Tennessee? They've painted Hamlet Orange! Does that arras hide Pence? Does Dad still haunt? Melania! Got to a nunnery hence! Othello too…

King Lear Othello Hamlet Coriolanus

Saturday, 14 November 2020 08:32

Beethoven's Fifth

Written by Martin Rowson

in Poetry

Beethoven’s Fifth by Martin Rowson Dom Dom Is goneDom Dom Is goneDom Dom Dom DomDom Dom Dom DomDom Dom Dom DomDom Dom Is goneTo play Minecraft underMichael Gove’s bed And recount the moon,While in his mind his enemiesAre crushed by great machines. Bless.

Dominic Cummings

Saturday, 14 November 2020 08:24

A Changing of the Guard

Written by David Betteridge

in Poetry

A Changing of the Guard by David Betteridge I came, I conquered, and I left,helped on my way by the enmityof others. I saw a job requiring to be done,that of sabotage. The urge to destroy, Bakunin said,is also a creative urge. I, of the Right, agreed with what that…

Dominic Cummings