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

Friday, 07 May 2021 13:13

Goodbye Andy Capp

Written by Jim Aitken

in Poetry

Goodbye Andy Capp by Jim Aitken, illustrated by the statue in Hartlepool Andy, oh Andy, what have you done?This is definitely your lowest yet.Though you were caricature combinedwith stereotype, you were still ours.You were one of our own and all yourstupid antics served only to entertainthe Blue Bunch who saw…

Hartlepool byelection

Tuesday, 04 May 2021 16:21

The Boy in the Subway

Written by Tony Webb

in Poetry

The Boy in the Subway by Tony Webb I met my wife for breakfast.Futile negotiationsin the bookshop café at the Dylan Thomas Centre.A peaceful haven amongst books and old pictures. I ordered hot chocolate, knowing this would bother her.The cream on my lips and other parts of my facewere bound…

Sunday, 02 May 2021 11:29

Deals done

Written by Sally Flint

in Poetry

Deals Done by Sally Flint The amount the government has to spend on state pensions will fall by £1.5bn by 2022, partly because of over-65s dying of Covid, forecasts suggest. The government will also receive an extra £0.9bn from inheritance tax - www.bbc.co.uk/news/business 3 March 2021 Boris Johnson’s ‘chumocracy’ is…

Boris Johnson

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 01 May 2021 09:15

May Day 2021: Defence and Rights

in Poetry

Written by David Betteridge

Defence and Rights by David Betteridge ... we have come here in the cause of Labour,in its own defence, to demand its own rights... - Eleanor Marx, speech on the first May Dayheld in Hyde Park, London, 1890 Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. Two syllables, thrice.Whoever hears this call understands Distress,and knows…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Sunday, 25 April 2021 08:36

May Day 2021: Star-Spangled Purple Bandana General

in Poetry

Written by Fred Voss

Star-spangled Purple Bandana General by Fred Voss When I first stepped up to a machine after gettingmy union cardI joined a ring of men and women locking hands in a circlespanning the globean armywith wrenches and hammers and steel-toed shoes and hardhats and tape measuresinstead of gunsan army standing so…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 30 April 2021 16:06

May Day 2021: The Stink

in Poetry

Written by Peter Knaggs

The Stink by Peter Knaggs At first we thought it was a mopor a dishcloth and we threw them out –But the nest day it was still there –So we swept the floor and opened a windowbut it got worse. We held our handsover our mouth and said JESUS and…

Boris Johnson Incompetence lies Evasion Dishonesty

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 27 April 2021 20:36

Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfiffle Johnson

in Poetry

Written by Steve Pottinger

In which the reader is invited to consider the A-Z of charges laid at the door of Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, setting them against the oft-repeated claim that he is doing his best. Please tick all answers that apply. by Steve Pottinger a) failing to act like…

Flat Belfast Lockdown corruption lies lovers

Sunday, 25 April 2021 11:27

Camels and Needles

Written by Rebecca Lowe

in Poetry

Camels and Needles by Rebecca Lowe ‘It is easier for a camel to passThrough the eye of a needleThan for a rich man to enter heaven’… ‘Ah,’ you say,‘But it depends on the size of the needle,It depends on the size of the camel.’ Poverty is relative only for the…

Sunday, 25 April 2021 11:25

kentish hymn / keremet

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

kentish hymn / keremet by Fran Lock wuton wuldrian weorada dryhten hálgan hlióðorcwidum... god is native to a numb tongue, heard as cleave or queerdom, we are crossing in fog where the chalk path forks. hips and haws. to the barrow, to the drear bower over the berm, to etching…

Saturday, 24 April 2021 16:46

The Cumm-Back

Written by David Erdos

in Poetry

The Cumm-Back by David Erdos And so Cummings condemns and throws even theirFormer secret codes into chaos. As with any supposedDivorce, the embittered try to deny what once was. It is as if the Tin Man had spilt the rotten beans keptInside him, to poison the cowardly Lion, with his…

Dominic Cummings Boris Johnson Sleaze

Friday, 23 April 2021 11:08

Invisible

Written by Pamela Thomas

in Poetry

Invisible by Pamela Thomas Cheryl's dog died yesterday, scruffy thing. He made it to fifteen But no-one asked how she was. They never do. So no-one knows It was her fortieth birthday too. No-one knew that either, the usual routine Even if she did say, no one would care she…