Poetry

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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, 02 September 2019 18:30

Advice to a Conspirator

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

Advice to a Conspirator by Chris Norris, with image by Martin Gollan You've told us lots of times 'it's do or die'For you, this Brexit thing, so if the 'do'Bit doesn't work, however hard you try,Then don't despair: there's always Option Two. I know you'll wriggle out of it, you'll…

Boris Johnson

Saturday, 31 August 2019 11:06

A Very Eton Kind of Far-Right Coup

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

A Very Eton Kind of Far-Right Coup by Chris Norris (to mark the event of an attempted UK far-right coup, August 28th, 2019) Not long since witty heckling mightHave stopped the bastard dead,But we just thought 'it's not our fight',And laughed at what he said. Great thing, the wisdom of…

Boris Johnson Proroguing Parliament

Wednesday, 14 August 2019 10:03

To The Man Who Defines Ireland

Written by Kevin Higgins

in Poetry

To The Man Who Defines Ireland by Kevin Higgins When telling us, as a nation, to cop on to ourselvesyou spit the words Provoor workers’ paradise like a ladytrying to rid her mouth of sour milk. But your voice is church bells and sunshinepouring down on Kingstown Harbour, circa 1913when…

Fintan O'Toole

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 05 August 2019 11:46

Robots Have No Bones

in Poetry

Written by Mike Quille

Robots Have No Bones (available here) is Fred Voss’s follow-up collection to The Earth and the Stars in the Palm of Your Hand, also published by Culture Matters. Robots in the workplace – computerized metalworking machinery – mean a loss of the tactile impact of ‘working’ a machine tool. And…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Sunday, 04 August 2019 16:00

Bread and Roses Poetry Award 2019: the winners!

in Poetry

Written by Mike Quille

The five winners of the 2019 Award are as follows: So, I Grabbed Ahold of My Own Cunt by Jane Burn spines stronger than the back of the Earth by Martin Hayes Pencils by Dave Hubble Dark by Paul Summers Bank by Rob Walton Congratulations to the five winners and…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 30 July 2019 14:09

Believe!

in Poetry

Written by Peter Branson

Believe! by Peter Branson "Rise, like lions after slumber" - Shelley, 'The Masque of Anarchy', 1819 (first pub.1832) We meet to talk about low pay,Our masters own the time.We swear an oath of secrecy;That is our only crime.A living wage, fair shares for all,For bread and liberty.Tolpuddle way, we reap…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 26 July 2019 15:52

Peterloo: the socialist poetry of Shelley, Brecht and Kinsella

in Poetry

Written by Jenny Farrell

In the run-up to the anniversary of Peterloo, Jenny Farrell discusses political poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Bertolt Brecht and Thomas Kinsella On 16 August 1819, tens of thousands of working men and women demonstrated in St. Peter's Fields near Manchester demanding reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws.…

shelley Brecht Kinsella

Friday, 26 July 2019 15:19

Luton, croutons, class and John Hegley

Written by

in Poetry

Chris Guiton explains the significant contribution made by Luton town to poetry Over two hundred years ago, the Romantic poet William Blake wrote some of the most striking lines in English poetry: To see a World in a Grain of Sand,And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,Hold Infinity in the…

Tuesday, 23 July 2019 16:44

Wheeling Away The Dreams

Written by Fred Voss

in Poetry

Wheeling Away The Dreams by Fred Voss As we work at our machines at 11:16 am we hearthe sirenand look out the factory tin door and see the paramedics truck pulling upin our company parking lotthen noticeOctavio is missing from his machineOctavio6’3” tall 220 pounds of 31-year-old muscle Octaviowho can…

Thursday, 18 July 2019 15:48

Who is Bertolt Brecht? and Why We Should Care in our Dark Times

Written by Anthony Squiers

in Poetry

Anthony Squiers outlines the contemporary relevance of Brecht, especially for artists who seek to produce meaningful works of art in our own dark times. On February 27, 1933 the Reichstag building, which housed the German parliament in Berlin, burst into flames. Nazi leaders alleged this to be a Communist plot…

Saturday, 13 July 2019 17:15

arise!

Written by Paul Summers

in Poetry

arise! is a poem by Paul Summers, published to celebrate the rich history and traditions of the Durham Miners’ Gala and the resurgent spirit of socialism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. We want to make a film of the poem for the labour movement, and we need to…