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, 12 September 2017 15:49

Plagiarism and the Privatisation of Poetry

Written by Andy Croft

in Poetry

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…

plagiarism in poetry the guardian Ira Lightman Andy Croft communism

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…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 02 September 2017 12:55

The Trouble with Monsters

in Poetry

Written by Chris Norris

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…

Beowulf Grendel Hitler Trump

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 29 August 2017 19:48

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

in Poetry

Written by David Betteridge

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…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 26 August 2017 15:38

Grenfell: for the victims

in Poetry

Written by Chris Norris

Author's Note: Joyce Grenfell (1910-1979) was a British actor, singer and stage entertainer who specialised in comic monologues and achieved huge popularity in the decades following World War Two. Among her best-known imaginary monologue-speakers was a teacher of very young children, among them George who was more than once asked…

Grenfell Tower Joyce Grenfell George Osborne

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 02 August 2017 06:00

Pardon

in Poetry

Written by Sheree Mack

Pardon by Sheree Mack The story of Sarah Baartman is the story of the African people....It is the story of the loss of our ancient freedom...(and) of our reduction to the state of objects who could be owned, used and discarded by others - Thabo Mbeki, 2002. Pardon I human is…

Sarah Baartman

Wednesday, 26 July 2017 06:00

More than ‘Rise like lions’: Shelley beyond The Mask of Anarchy

Written by Mike Sanders

in Poetry

Mike Sanders writes about Shelley 'the Chartist poet' as a catalyst for working class creativity, how he envisioned a communist society, and how the privileged classes refused to hear the revolutionary meanings of his poems. One of the unexpected features of the recent General Election campaign was the ‘co-opting’ of…

shelley jeremy corbyn Peterloo

Saturday, 22 July 2017 06:00

Justice 4 Grenfell

Written by Zita Holbourne

in Poetry

Justice 4 Grenfell by Zita Holbourne So many lives that never needed to end Trapped in a fire box, no way to defend From the fury of flames spreading rapidlyImagine how frightening this must be They built ghettos in the sky to hide us away Boxed in on top of…

Grenfell Tower Justice4Grenfell

Friday, 21 July 2017 18:01

Aftersong

Written by Robert Farrell

in Poetry

After-Song by Robert Farrell One hears and moves toward it. One moves, but is Not in it, what does not Keep but flowers forth. We aren’t it. It is What lets the sky appear, The sunrise rise to site a circle in Hills whose rocks refuse toRecognize themselves in us.…

Thursday, 20 July 2017 21:34

one block of council flats left

Written by Martin Hayes

in Poetry

one block of council flats left by Martin Hayes just one block of council flats remains in this area where we work our magic in allocating out jobs to couriersso that multinationals and £500-an-hour law firms and hedge-fund managers who look after billions of pounds can remain healthy and strong…