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, 28 May 2018 18:25

Don't Stop Repealing

Written by Kevin Higgins

in Poetry

Don’t Stop Repealing after Journey by Kevin Higgins In the interests of the coming equality,of which everyone is now theoretically in favour, the mahogany dining tables of Taylors’ Hillmust be immediately confiscated; the wood usedto fashion a makeshift grand pianofor every asylum seeker child in the city. All marble staircases will…

Irish referendum abortion referendum

Monday, 21 May 2018 09:12

To My Wife, from an Israeli Gaol

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

To My Wife, from an Israeli Gaol by Chris Norris 'She kept saying: “You have to go. You have to go”', recalled one aunt, Ahlam, 30. ‘She was the most dedicated of all of us.’ Wesal, 14, was shot dead on Monday, one of more than 60 people killed as…

Saturday, 19 May 2018 16:59

Let Me Tell You About Them

Written by Kevin Higgins

in Poetry

Let Me Tell You About Them by Kevin Higgins The teenagers we shot yesterdaywere shot responsibly through the eyewith plain-speaking dum-dum bullets, manufactured in Fife, or taken down with SR 25 sniper rifles flownheroically in from Orange County.Many of these so-called protestorsspecifically arranged to be shot in the back, just…

Palestine Israel

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 15 May 2018 10:30

Poets, jump the class divide! Dark Times Revisited

in Poetry

Written by Chris Norris

Image: Côr Cochion Caerdydd (Cardiff Reds Choir), have raised their voices in song, campaigning for peace, freedom and justice. Dark Times Revisited by Chris Norris Oh why do we not say the important things, it would be so easy, and we are damned because we do not. - Bertolt Brecht, ‘Song About…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 15 May 2018 09:21

'Of no court tyrants we're afraid': the literature of the United Irishmen

in Poetry

Written by Jenny Farrell

Jenny Farrell introduces the literature of the United Irishmen, part of international and democratic liberation literature, expressing ideals which are still to be achieved. 24 May marks the 220th anniversary of the rising of the United Irishmen, a struggle for the overthrow of British rule in Ireland and the establishment…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 14 May 2018 13:42

Dirty word

in Poetry

Written by Susan Millar DuMars

On Friday 25th May, Irish citizens will vote in a referendum on abortion rights. Dirty Word by Susan Millar DuMars The first three fourths are fine.The listening ear of cthe deep bowl of ucurved bridge n; but thenthe tiny crucifix at tail end tips usaway from rounded lipsto a sound…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 09 May 2018 21:22

Windrush: a reckoning

in Poetry

Written by Chris Norris

Windrush: a reckoning by Chris Norris On 18 October 2017, Wilson was detained at the Wolverhampton Home Office reporting centre where she had been reporting on a fortnightly basis since August 2015. She was put in a vehicle that reminded her of a ‘meat van’, because it had no windows,…

Wednesday, 02 May 2018 21:11

why not a job: two poems for May Day from Martin Hayes and Fred Voss

Written by Martin Hayes

in Poetry

Martin Hayes has sent in a poem dedicated to Fred Voss, and the compliment has been returned. why not a job by Martin Hayes after Fred Voss why not a job to dedicate your life towhy does it always have to be a man who died on a cross or…

Tuesday, 01 May 2018 22:16

The beauty and usefulness of poetry: Teeside International Poetry Festival

Written by Mike Quille

in Poetry

Mike Quille praises the 'subversive internationalism' of the 2018 Teeside International Poetry Festival, and presents some of the poems performed there. 250 years ago, Middlesbrough-born James Cook set sail on one of history’s iconic imperialist journeys. It was a voyage which extended scientific, geographical and cultural knowledge of other peoples.…

MIMA James Cook Middlesbrough

Wednesday, 25 April 2018 09:32

'Structures don't take to the streets!' May '68: a structuralist riposte

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

May ’68: a structuralist riposte by Chris Norris A cloud no bigger than a man’s hand crosses the English Channel from Paris, and then, in an instant, the trees, the orchard, the hedgerows, the field of wheat, are black with locusts. When at length they rise to fly on to…

Saturday, 21 April 2018 19:15

Eye of the Needle

Written by Ira Lightman

in Poetry

Eye of the Needle by Ira Lightman Camels shouldn't vote for death.They needn't die at Christmas.On the 25th, Christ's birthis the defeat of Adam's cursewhich was death. The rich make human life ridiculous and cold on our visit to Bath.We particularly notice,much more than in the North East, in Bath…