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

Thursday, 11 March 2021 17:18

Anonymous Bosch

Written by Mike Jenkins

in Poetry

The End of Austeritee by Mike Jenkins Cop shop's bin moved outa town,yew ardly ever see 'em around. Library's shifted to-a Leisure Centre:all about footfall, nobuddy goes there. Many Council redundancies 're comin,Old People's Centre an emtee buildin. Mewsic, drama an poetree luxuries in schools,learnin for tests an exams the…

Thursday, 11 March 2021 17:11

Our Father Eclipse

Written by Rebecca Lowe

in Poetry

Trumpets by Rebecca Lowe And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. (Revelation 8:2) Germany April 4, 2015:A lone girl looks up into the sky:The sound, a metallic groaning,Like somebody put the keys in a rusted ignition. In Bristol, they refer…

Tuesday, 09 March 2021 09:14

A great struggle to set something free: Ox poems

Written by Martin Hayes

in Poetry

Martin Hayes presents 5 poems from Ox, his new collection. All images by Gustavius Payne Ox trust the oxen bought tickets to the annual oxen versus goats football matchwhich though having stellar meaning in the ox and goat worldnevertheless had to be played in a secret locationbecause oxen and goats…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Sunday, 07 March 2021 19:15

Choose to Challenge: International (Working) Women's Day 2021

in Poetry

Written by Fran Lock

Fran Lock introduces some poems for International (Working) Women's Day 2021. Images above and in text: Jane Burn IWWD – or IWD as we're now supposed to call it – has had some pretty ropey “themes” in the past. But this year, I feel more positively inclined: 'Choose to Challenge'…

Golnoosh Nour Sarah Wdderburn Clare Saponia Jane Burn Julia Bell IWD

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 27 February 2021 08:31

The Apple Tree

in Poetry

Written by Alan Sleater

The Apple Tree by Alan Sleater, with image by Steev Burgess Early in Autumn, our first crop of apples,Plentiful, but small and bitter to eatEmerged from the oval-shaped posies of leaves.Our apple tree bore fruit. We marked the date. It was an old misshapen tree that lookedAs though a push…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:36

Ballad of the Black Domain

in Poetry

Written by Mike Quille

Ballad of the Black Domain by Alun Rees When you’re born in Merthyr Tydfilyou’re brought up in grief and rain.God himself was afraid to goalone in the Black Domain. Recession or Depression -our loss was someone’s gain.Living was lean and dying hardin the terrible Black Domain. Where body and soul…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 20 February 2021 15:20

On Priti Patel, Practical Solidarity, Poetry and Preservation

in Poetry

Written by Fran Lock

Fran Lock attacks the Government's policies towards asylum-seekers, Travellers, and Black Lives Matter protesters, and shows how poetry can be a site of solidarity, community, and challenge. Image above: Pigeon Proletariat, by Steev Burgess I no longer hate Priti Patel. Wait, I'll unpack that statement: hate has an edge and…

Travellers BLM Dom Hale Cole Denyer

Saturday, 20 February 2021 10:23

Pride of the Planter’s Collection

Written by Alan Kissane

in Poetry

Pride of the Planter’s Collection by Alan Kissane, with image above 'The Slave Ship' by JMW Turner Observe these old wounds, stitched together by maggots, bound with black broken bandages.See the way the light reflects the deep reds and browns, reminiscent of the sea in Turner’s painting. Touch the hard…

Monday, 15 February 2021 12:29

To William and Psychogeography In The Year The World Shrank

Written by Caroline Ritchie

in Poetry

To William by Caroline Ritchie, image above is from Jerusalem by William Blake Inventing things that don’t work is a brilliant thing, you know. – William Lyttle. Forgetting how to triangulate, or calculate, the hours of follylike a good Royal Societician,tirelessly you build (or dig)your way to a clockless kindof…

Sunday, 14 February 2021 14:30

Secular Icon

Written by Tom Hubbard

in Poetry

Secular Icon by Tom Hubbard They heard that he was ‘something in the City’And wore nice suits. The ideal son-in-law.The thought that he could lord it quite so shittyNever occurred. Just worship that firm jaw,The measured tones, the wife both rich and pretty;He makes his colleagues look and sound so…

Thursday, 11 February 2021 13:05

John Keats: Revolutionary Romantic

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Poetry

Jenny Farrell marks the 200th anniversary of Keats's death. The image above is of Keats on his deathbed, by his friend Joseph Severn G. B. Shaw stated that “Keats achieved the very curious feat of writing a poem of which it may be said that if Karl Marx can be…