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

Sunday, 20 December 2020 09:46

It’s hard to say ‘I love you’ to a Tory

Written by Louisa Campbell

in Poetry

It’s hard to say ‘I love you’ to a Tory by Louisa Campbell It’s hard to reason with people who make you so angryyou want to beat some sense into their cold, cold hearts.And why would anyone listen to someone who hates them?So, here you go: I love you, when…

Jacob ReesMogg Unicef

Friday, 04 December 2020 19:29

The Sword and the Sickle: William Blake and class struggle

Written by David Betteridge

in Poetry

To celebrate his 79th birthday, David Betteridge writes about swords, sickles and class struggle I Have a slow look at the drawing shown above. Is it not an image that captures our eye, engages our intelligence, and feeds our imagination, springing as it does from the artist’s own eye and…

Friday, 04 December 2020 14:35

Amnesia of the Asylum-seeker

Written by Leah Fleetwood

in Poetry

Amnesia of the Asylum-seeker by Leah Fleetwood Who we were back then, it’s hard to recall:lawyers, actors, fruit-sellers at a stall;street-singers, clerics, or newssheet writers?How were we seen – kowtowers or fighters?Your need to process us is fair and no surprise – to thresh the facts from what you think…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 03 December 2020 14:57

2020

in Poetry

Written by Tom Hubbard

2020 by Tom Hubbard Cardboard covers the flesh in a smitten street,While, immunised from sudden empathy,Flesh covers pasteboard as high chancers greetDank festivals of mediocrity.Their very bodies crust into a mask,And those who hark at them are marionettesOf paper that absorbs, who scarce will ask,And take no thought for future…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 01 December 2020 09:21

The myth of the self-made man

in Poetry

Written by Paul Dovey

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 26 November 2020 10:45

See what life is like: an interview with Dorothy Spencer

in Poetry

Written by Fran Lock

Fran Lock interviews Dorothy Spencer, an editor at Lumpen journal, writer, poet and mental health worker. Her first collection, See What Life is Like was published by Lumpen this year. Her writing explores everyday tragedies; addiction, love, loneliness, and the absurd banality of late consumer capitalism. Hi Dorothy, and thanks…

Lumpen Journal Class Work Project

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 25 November 2020 09:50

Naked under 10,000-watt lightbulbs

in Poetry

Written by Fred Voss

Naked under 10,000-watt lightbulbs by Fred Voss We machinistsare lucky to have our machinesmachine handles we can grab when we are lonely green steel machine sides we can hide behind when we feel guilty or ashamedsteel machine tables we can drop 100-pound machinist vises onto and green steel machine headswe…

Tuesday, 17 November 2020 10:29

What is Present: History, by John Berger

Written by David Betteridge

in Poetry

David Betteridge writes about the poem 'History' What interests me about the existence of archives is that you enter the past which is as it were in the present tense. And so it’s another way of people who lived in the past who perhaps are still living or perhaps are…

Monday, 09 November 2020 17:12

Shopping Centre

Written by Rebecca Samura

in Poetry

Shopping Centre words and image by Rebecca Samura I know it scared you every time our eyes lit up.Little hands reaching for shiny plastic and colourful lights. Can we get it?It hurts you to say no. Others looked on, watching the show. Your self doubts, magnified by what you thought,…

Sunday, 08 November 2020 10:20

Little Boy

Written by Gerda Stevenson

in Poetry

Little Boy by Gerda Stevenson Little Boy is on his way, snugin the metal womb of Enola Gay,all of his components prepped, but not quite ready yet – his system fine-tuned only after take-off –safety first for his birthing crew.The pilot gives full throttle: Do it for me, Momma! Overloaded,…

Remembrance Sunday Hiroshima 75th anniversary

Monday, 02 November 2020 10:43

Coal Monologues

Written by William Hershaw

in Poetry

Coal Monologues by Willie Hershaw 1) Brother James I received the Abbot’s ordersinby the big pink house:“Yoke Joseph and Mary, to an oxen cart - take shovels, creels.Wrap up - it’s wet and marshy with few paths.Go roughly east for around six miles,keep to the right of the hills.You’ll see…