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, 18 June 2018 21:46

Don’t believe a single word your English lecturer tells you about poetry

Written by Peter Knaggs

in Poetry

Here's another response from Peter Knaggs, in three parts, to Martin Hayes's recent poetry book, The Things Our Hands Once Stood For. Don’t believe a single word your English lecturer tells you about poetry (i) by Peter Knaggs They will tell you about Spencer and Chaucerand the renaissanceand the romantics,…

Monday, 18 June 2018 20:35

at wembley dogs

Written by Martin Hayes

in Poetry

at Wembley dogs by Martin Hayes at Wembley dogs we used to buy brown Hofmeister bottles of beer and jump all over the seats that people once sat in to watch England win the World Cup we used to eat hot dogs longer than our cocks and run up and…

Thursday, 14 June 2018 22:08

Poetry of the working class at the Torriano Meeting House, 22nd July

Written by Mike Quille

in Poetry

On Sunday July 22nd, live at 7.30pm at the Torriano Meeting House, Kentish Town, five great London-based poets, all published or about to be published by Culture Matters, will read their poetry. They are Fran Lock........ Peter Raynard........ Martin Hayes........ Alan Dunnett........ and Nadia Drews. You'll hear some rather special poets…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 14 June 2018 08:22

Grenfell Day

in Poetry

Written by Rip Bulkeley

It's a year since Grenfell Tower in west London was destroyed by a fire that killed 72 people. Grenfell Day by Rip Bulkeley Like any and every other daythis one was filled with happiness,with loss and crime and ice-cream vans,with lovers' confessions and catastrophes,with hopeless refugees, with foolishness and failures,with…

King Lear and the Fool in the Storm by William Dyce

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:32

Tragedy: a caution from Brecht

in Poetry

Written by Chris Norris

Tragedy: a caution from Brecht by Chris Norris Our representations of human social life are designed for river-dwellers, fruit farmers, builders of vehicles and up-turners of society, whom we invite into our theatres and beg not to forget their cheerful occupations while we hand the world over to their minds…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 01 June 2018 07:56

A Third Colour: A protest against the world we live in

in Poetry

Written by Mike Quille

Mike Quille introduces a new collection of poetry from Culture Matters. Housmans, the not-for-profit radical bookshop, is at the foot of the Caledonian Road near King's Cross station in North London. It was the venue for the recent launch of A Third Colour, Culture Matters' new collection of poems by…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 28 May 2018 18:25

Don't Stop Repealing

in Poetry

Written by Kevin Higgins

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

Tuesday, 15 May 2018 10:30

Poets, jump the class divide! Dark Times Revisited

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

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…

Tuesday, 15 May 2018 09:21

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

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Poetry

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…