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, 11 December 2017 14:14

The Hate-Song of J. William Rees-Mogg

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

The Hate-Song of J. William Rees-Mogg by Chris Norris My name is Jacob Rees-Mogg, andI’ll have you peasants knowI'm here to save this precious landFrom many a deadly foe. I'm ten years old but please don't laugh;I'm grown-up as can be.I read the Daily TelegraphAnd that’s the rag for me.…

Thursday, 30 November 2017 16:25

Patrick Kavanagh

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Poetry

On the 50th anniversary of Patrick Kavanagh's death, Jenny Farrell draws out some of the political meanings of Patrick Kavanagh's poem Epic. The Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967), who died fifty years ago, is not as well known internationally as he should be. He…

Wednesday, 29 November 2017 23:32

on that day

Written by Steve Pottinger

in Poetry

on that day by Steve Pottinger on that day when we can barely hear ourselves think for the pealing of church bells the cheering of crowds when the pubs are full and the street parties last till every bottle’s empty and the sun is crawling over the rooftops for the…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 29 November 2017 14:37

Migrants: a dialogue

in Poetry

Written by Chris Norris

Migrants: a dialogue by Chris Norris Some certainly recognized the suffering of the migrants concerned, but comments beneath a Daily Mail article included the following: ‘Isn’t it about time these people stayed to sort out the mess in their own countries instead of running away?’; and ‘Hard as it may…

refugees

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 22 November 2017 18:16

At Service or Brexit

in Poetry

Written by Alan Dunnett

At Service or Brexit by Alan Dunnett In the timings is some dislocation.All the cogs seem oiled. You pull and againat the lever. Each day, it is harder, sweating underground while the batteriesget low. Each day, the end-count is smaller.There is a dull continuing. Hands reach through the cage for…

Brexit

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 21 November 2017 22:03

Bread and Roses Poetry Anthology 2017

in Poetry

Written by Len McCluskey

Len McCluskey introduces the Bread and Roses Poetry Anthology 2017. As working-class people, we know all about economic struggle. It’s a constant struggle for many people nowadays to make ends meet on low incomes and inadequate benefits, because these have been deliberately frozen and even cut by governments of the…

Unite jeremy corbyn

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 17 November 2017 11:32

universal credit

in Poetry

Written by Fran Lock

universal credit by Fran Lock statues wake, and yawning, scrapethe birdshit from their tongues. londondrags a dirty nail across her fibroid lungs. the hoodies and the halfwits are disportingon the green. their smiles are shallow gasheslike the slots of fruit machines. the silent politicians brush their dandrufffrom their suits. rehearsing…

Friday, 17 November 2017 10:32

Us Too

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

Us too by Fran Lock 1: And at the knackered traffic lights, the lads, led about by their soft-boiled bellies like pregnant seahorses; regimental maniacs in berets, khaki slacks and symptomatic tattoos, checking their reflections in their steel toe-caps. It’s Friday night, and I am walking the tusky ramparts of…

Friday, 17 November 2017 10:10

A Double Act

Written by S O Fasrus

in Poetry

A Double Act by S. O. Fasrus 'But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them - Louis C K It's fifteen years laterwe're rueing the…

Louis C K Me too

Friday, 17 November 2017 09:45

To the Wife of an All-Too-Interventionist Foreign Secretary

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

To the Wife of an All-Too-Interventionist Foreign Secretary by Chris Norris Note: This piece is an updated reprise of Edgell Rickword’s mid-1930s poem ‘To the Wife of Any Non-Interventionist Statesman’. Rickword was addressing those mainly Conservative politicians who opposed sending military aid to the Republican Government in Spain on grounds…

Yemen Saudi Arabia Foreign Secretary

Monday, 27 November 2017 13:33

Flight and Fall

Written by David Betteridge

in Poetry

David Betteridge has written a commemorative work of prose and poetry especially for this Russian Revolution section of Culture Matters. An extract from the poetry is given in ebook format here, along with some illustrations by Bob Starrett. Flight and Fall looks back at the events of 1917 from the standpoint of Glasgow in 2017.