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

Tuesday, 06 October 2020 20:24

The Approaching Storm

Written by S. J. Litherland

in Poetry

The Approaching Storm by S. J. Litherland A grey interlude of calm and a whinein the woods, a lone siren.Diamonds arrive on my window,tracery of casual beauty. The grey overhang of cloudtells us nothing, it’s blank like a liar avoiding a question.Seeds of rain and a lone bird aloftas if…

Monday, 05 October 2020 07:14

Rathlin: In memory of Derek Mahon

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Poetry

Jenny Farrell memorialises Derek Mahon by presenting a reading of his poem Rathlin, bringing out its political message and artistic skill Derek Mahon died on 1 October. Born into the Protestant Belfast working class, he was of a generation with Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley. All three poets benefitted from…

Sunday, 04 October 2020 22:02

Poem for the Feast of Saint Francis on the subject of forgiveness, October 4th 2020

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

Poem for the Feast of Saint Francis on the subject of forgiveness, October 4th 2020 by Fran Lock i cried for the highlands last night. for myself. there is something writhing inside of me, a snake of mutant spleen. i waited for a storm to make my terrors holy. concentrated…

Trump and Covid

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 02 October 2020 11:12

Trump has Covid

in Poetry

Written by Jane Burn

Trump has Covid by Jane Burn and I do not celebrate. Melania has Covidand I do not celebrate. Covid is a fiend, a brute –a devastator of too many homes, a ruiner of health,relationships, families. Of businesses, of lives.I wish it gone, I wish healing to the whole world.He will…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 01 October 2020 13:19

Demolition

in Poetry

Written by Annette Skade

Demolition by Annette Marie Skade Before they were demolished the tennies were rough,drug dealers on the stairwells mopped by the women,rubbish tipped down chutes to the rats on the bins,bonfires on the tarmac between the blocks. A toddlerdressed like a doll in a fun-fur jacket, pokes a stick into a…

Liverpool tenements

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 01 October 2020 11:41

Form and Content

in Poetry

Written by Martin Rowson

Form and Content by Martin Rowson Today is National Poetry Day, so I must now informThe World that she whom I adore, she who keeps me warm,Hates my verse, abhors my rhymes, thinks my scansion gorm-Less.My love, alas, approves the content but deplores the form. What I see as a…

National Poetry Day

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 30 September 2020 08:47

again and again they kill him

in Poetry

Written by Fran Lock

again and again they kill him by Fran Lock, with image by Martin Gollan even now there are places where a thought might shrink –a mind worked out and thwart with waltzy boozing, hotwith speed, still wearing all its frenzy on its sleeve. to breathethis bitter vigilance undone. abused, becalmed,…

Johnson

Wednesday, 23 September 2020 16:45

'Poetry is a rival government': the poetry of William Carlos Wiliams

Written by Ciaran O Rourke

in Poetry

Ciarán O'Rourke writes about the thoroughly politicised, internationalist and anti-fascist poetry of William Carlos Williams “Mourn O Ye Angels of the Left Wing!”, Allen Ginsberg exclaimed in 1963, following the death of William Carlos Williams: “that the poet / of the streets is a skeleton under the pavement now”. The…

Monday, 21 September 2020 06:53

Homage to Henry Kissinger

Written by Kevin Higgins

in Poetry

Homage to Henry Kissinger by Kevin Higgins When Henry Kissinger again fails to die: Another tree in the Central Highlands loses all its leaves A girl sits on a visiting diplomat’s lap Someone organises a Nelson Rockefeller lookalike party Which Henry Kissinger attends An election result somewhere is declared null…

Sunday, 20 September 2020 07:21

Working-class poetics and heeding the 'cry of the poor'

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

Fran Lock writes about our potential to develop and publish a new kind of poetics, where solidarity and community can be fostered in moments of lyrical, dialectical tenderness. Above image by Imtiaz Dharker, from Witches, Warriors and Workers We are living through a strange and difficult time for poetry; for…

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 12:17

The Burden of Ownership

Written by Jenny Mitchell

in Poetry

The Burden of Ownership by Jenny Mitchell He measures cost in body parts. A head paysfor a month of food; two eyes a week of drink.Christmas adds a throat. Carved out with carethe neck still holds a yoke if the chin is firmweight evenly proportioned. Four breasts pay for his…