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

Wednesday, 06 May 2020 22:08

Graces

Written by P. W. Bridgman

in Poetry

Graces by P. W. Bridgman In the dying light, as the moon drifts fully behind the casement’s edge, Ted and Grace’s little one drifts too: from a fitful wakefulness,at last and finally to a placid sleep. Somnolence settles upon him like a blessing, like a light snowfall, like the blanket’s…

Wednesday, 06 May 2020 08:39

Numbers

Written by Steve Pottinger

in Poetry

numbers by Steve Pottinger this morning(one dressing-gown, two pockets, missing belt) standing on the back doorstep(cuppa, four sugars, first fag of the day) she’s thinking about numbers(two blackbirds, three wood pigeon, one wren) dry mouth, heart pitter-pattering (nineteen to the dozen) the small ones she can handle,(five fence panels, twelve…

Friday, 01 May 2020 09:10

Beak Doctors

Written by Alan Morrison

in Poetry

Beak Doctors by Alan Morrison We're wandering about by dayKeeping each other at baySome of us wearing face masksCarrying out our daily tasksOf getting some shopping inWithout touching anything -Wiping down the supermarket basketsWith disinfectantLike over-scrupulous neuroticsOr priests polishing communion cups (One wonders if those orange topsWill ever be back…

Covid19

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 30 April 2020 08:03

May Day Greetings from a London garden

in Poetry

Written by David Erdos

My May Day Call By David Erdos Act One: As We End? SCENE: April 2020, with the day itself as a stage, the writer sits in his garden. He types on an old child-size laptop what he wishes his fellow comrades to hear. He is resolute but concerned and keen…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 28 April 2020 09:33

'The life I lived was a woman's life': Eavan Boland, one of Ireland's finest poets

in Poetry

Written by Jenny Farrell

Jenny Farrell remembers the life and work of the late Eavan Boland Eavan Boland died on 27 April 2020. She ranks among Ireland’s finest poets, and was one of the foremost female voices in Irish poetry. She was born in Dublin in 1944, her father a diplomat and her mother…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 17 April 2020 15:48

Tribute Acts

in Poetry

Written by Kevin Higgins

Tribute Acts by Kevin Higgins Each witch hunt is a tribute act to the last. There is always a committee of three.The gravity in the room is such they struggle to manoeuvre the enormity of their serious faces in the door. Except in the TV version, there is hardly ever…

labour party

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 17 April 2020 15:31

Anarchy Rules

in Poetry

Written by Ray Miller

Anarchy Rules by Ray Miller We'll begin at the top -send someone to the loftto shed light on what's dark and spooky,seek out the machinesthat have captured our dreamsand other instruments of cruelty.Let's excise and exposewhat lies under clothesand strip the whole joint naked,so that nothing's intact,let's be ruthless, in…

Friday, 17 April 2020 08:01

Let Us Face the Future

Written by Chris Nash

in Poetry

ronavirusLet Us Face the Future by Chris Nash Common and apart, we stand in defiant windows,Each in a viral, personal Grenfell, care of uk.gov,we’re refugees like all the rest, too late we know our land’s no longer ours, beyond the heal of love: An invisible hand locks our lives in…

Coronavirus Boris Johnson Winston Churchill NHS

Wednesday, 15 April 2020 12:44

Meanwhile (spoiler alert) back at the Apocalypse…

Written by Jim Mainland

in Poetry

Meanwhile (spoiler alert) back at the Apocalypse… by Jim Mainland Tammy’s new flatmate is acting strangely againGwen awaits the results of her hospital testBarry’s practical joke backfires Leanne’s drinking reaches devastating proportionsLen prepares to meet his natural motherBen suspects Lisa is cheating on himCarol discovers Jason and Keith in a…

Coronavirus

Monday, 13 April 2020 11:17

Indebted

Written by Sally Flint

in Poetry

Indebted by Sally Flint 'I owe them my life.' - Boris Johnson, thanking NHS staff. It's early morning: no-one speaks. Not yet.Yellow's Orthopaedics, pink Paediatrics,purple Chemo ‒ not enough aqua for A&E,so there's a sharing out of ICU's blues. They've sat with the dying beyond shifts,high-fived and hugged each other…

Coronavirus NHS Boris Johnson

Friday, 10 April 2020 09:41

Easter Rising 1916: The Wayfarer, by Pádraig Pearse

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Poetry

Jenny Farrell presents the final poem in the series of poems written by the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916. It is Pádraig Pearse’s “The Wayfarer”. It is Pearse’s last poem, his last statement, written on the eve of his execution in Kilmainham Gaol. The Wayfarer by Pádraig Pearse…