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, 27 September 2017 20:25

National Poetry Day: Vignettes of Working Class Exhaustion

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

Vignettes of Working Class Exhaustion by Fran Lock Malkin Sacred, not wise, the black cat's acidcasualty stare, traversing a crumblingcul-de-sac, under a starlessly inkjet sky.We cross each other's path, and sheleans into my unluck, a clot of deeperdark, unstuck from the rest of the night.Then she is gone, the quick…

Wednesday, 27 September 2017 13:31

National Poetry Day: Pretend

Written by Anon

in Poetry

Pretend by a postal worker pretend that the scars on your knuckles come from boxing, not letterboxesmake out that the pains in your neck are just age, the snaps in your knees,the feet worn rough by work shoes slanted at heels, soles like a burst couch,front up that you’ll not…

Wednesday, 27 September 2017 09:05

National Poetry Day: as the poets write about the smell of their dead fathers' tweed jackets

Written by Martin Hayes

in Poetry

as the poets write about the smell of their dead fathers' tweed jackets by Martin Hayes a crust of dry bread has become the dream of millionsrunning water and one bar of electric heatamenities out of reach for a quarter of the globeas CEOs stand in their kitchenswarming their feet…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 27 September 2017 08:49

National Poetry Day: Ciúnas/Quiet

in Poetry

Written by Kevin Higgins

Ciúnas/Quiet after Camillo Sbarbero by Kevin Higgins Ciúnas, sad person, these are the greatdays when one must speak without whining.The children of the long political sleep forced awake. Like a vine heavy with grapes in peak season,laughing at its own potential riches,I don’t think I shall die againand now know…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 27 September 2017 08:28

National Poetry Day: None of us are really machines

in Poetry

Written by Fred Voss

None of us are really machines by Fred Voss Every once in a while a manfalls apart next to a machine with perfect thousandth-of-an-inch calibration marksall over its dialstrains roll on timetime clocks never miss a tickJupiter never stops revolving or orbiting the sunbut a manwho has come through a…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 26 September 2017 15:38

National Poetry Day: Justice and Peace

in Poetry

Written by Alan Dunnett

Justice and Peace by Alan Dunnett Then I killed him. It was appropriate.Then his sister hired some men who shot my brother when they could not find me. Chestdown, he was paralysed. Following that, my sister-in-law spoke to her brothersand they took revenge but two of them died. Then it…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 12 September 2017 15:49

Plagiarism and the Privatisation of Poetry

in Poetry

Written by Andy Croft

The Guardian recently ran an article on plagiarism in poetry by Will Storr. Andy Croft, author of two very widely read and influential articles on Culture Matters, The Privatisation of Poetry and Poetry Belongs to Everyone, was interviewed at what was called 'an anarchist bookfair' (actually London's Radical Bookfair). It is very tempting to reduce these issues to…

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Wednesday, 06 September 2017 08:31

Roar!

Written by Martin Hayes

in Poetry

Roar! by Martin Hayes as we allocated out the thousands of jobstrying to keep it safe and tidyso that we could protect our minds and dignityfrom the supervisors who would come out every time they caught us fucking upand try to strip it all awayby screaming and shouting at us…

Monday, 04 September 2017 20:10

Bring the Rising Home!

Written by Owen Gallagher

in Poetry

Owen Gallagher introduces Mike Jenkins's latest poetry collection. Mike Jenkins is a politically active poet of the street, the estate and the countryside. He is also known among Cardiff City Football Club fans as their ‘unofficial poet’. He writes prophetically on behalf of the oppressed in towns and valleys, not…

Saturday, 02 September 2017 12:55

The Trouble with Monsters

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

The Trouble with Monsters by Chris Norris Quick way with monsters: send a hero outFor mortal combat: sometimes he'll prevailAnd kill the beast, while other times he'll failAnd it will be his death that ends the bout. The point is, those old poets had it right,Those Greeks, and Romans, and…

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Tuesday, 29 August 2017 19:48

Grenfell: 'social murder' is that crime's name

Written by David Betteridge

in Poetry

A Blaze That Did Not Need To Burn by David Betteridge I am nothing and I should be everything... - Karl Marx The best part of the building was the people in it. They made of its doomed fabric, homes: homes that for many, at a stroke, in an upward…