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, 09 July 2021 16:27

Summer Poetry Round-Up

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

Fran Lock reviews some recent poetry collections Ox, by Martin Hayes (Knives Forks And Spoons Press) It has been written elsewhere that Ox marks something of a departure for Martin Hayes, who is perhaps best known as an outspoken poetic witness to the multiple indignities and oppressions of our cruel…

Tuesday, 29 June 2021 07:53

Visibility and Voice: C+nto, by Joelle Taylor

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

Fran Lock reviews C+nto, by Joelle Taylor When I talk about Joelle Taylor as a “wordsmith” I do not choose the epithet idly. Having read with Taylor numerous times, I have been fortunate enough to hear several of the poems in C+nto during the formative phases of their development, and…

Friday, 25 June 2021 17:25

To George, from Sunny Wigan

Written by Christopher Norris

in Poetry

To George, from Sunny Wigan by Christopher Norris At the back of one of the houses a young woman was kneeling on the stones, poking a stick up the leaden waste-pipe which ran from the sink inside and which I suppose was blocked . . . . She looked up…

George Orwell Road to Wigan Pier

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 19 June 2021 11:15

The Highroad Shrine

in Poetry

Written by Ruth Valentine

The Highroad Shrine by Ruth Valentine Permit me, this morning, the luxury of despair.The ice has vanished:no skidding cars screeching to take the corner,child in the back crying. No old womanlosing her footing beside the pavement rowan,brushing snow and shame from her coat. The sky is mottled.Crocuses, yellow and mauve,…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 18 June 2021 10:36

Whit?

in Poetry

Written by Jim Mainland

Whit? by Jim Mainland Na, na, na, na, na, hing on a meenit! Du’s sayin if du gies dem lots a money dey gie dee a lucrative contract or a plum job? Or if du’s related ta da boss he maks dee Loard so-and-soo somethin or idder? An den pits…

House of Lords and expenses

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 18 June 2021 08:37

This most bloody and divisive prime minister: Margaret Thatcher, exploitation and class struggle

in Poetry

Written by Fran Lock

Fran Lock writes about Thatcher and her legacy. Image above: Steev Burgess Not quite a decade after her death, and already cultural depictions of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher are everywhere in evidence, most recently in the hit Netflix TV series The Crown, where she is played by Gillian…

orgreave Miners' Strike Ballymurphy Massacre

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 18 June 2021 07:44

let them eat chips

in Poetry

Written by Julie Easley

let them eat chips by Julie Easley common sense is cheap these days - just ask the rich they chuck in their opinion, churn out recipes for freethey say the poor can’t budget ‘cept for fags and booze and huge TV’sthey line up in their taxpayer limos for the latest…

Friday, 18 June 2021 07:39

Pain in My Heart

Written by Sarah Barrington

in Poetry

Pain in My Heart by Sarah Barrington, with image above by Steev Burgess Before I left for universityMy friend Louisegot work for me, for the summer,At the recycling centre,Accounting in the offices, littered with windswept sheets of wasted paper,Amidst the incessant winking, bleeping, groaning lorries unloading on the weighbridge.In Portakabins,In…

Friday, 18 June 2021 07:06

The Cut of those Cold, Sharp Stars

Written by Emma Lee

in Poetry

The Cut of those Cold, Sharp Stars by Emma Lee I don't think it's to do with temperature.I feel every piece of grit, every puddle, the cold.There won't be a bus for another hour.I'm used to the cold. Used to shiver like a child,but now I don't even dream of…

Thursday, 17 June 2021 08:14

The Hurdle Race

Written by Paul Francis

in Poetry

The Hurdle Race by Paul Francis The Guru says that every kidshould run the same race that he did.He wants lanes narrow, hurdles tall.A course where most contestants fallmay not be sensitive or just;what matters is that it’s robust.So many ways to be assessed -the Guru knows that his is…

Tuesday, 25 May 2021 14:31

Notice to Quit

Written by Harriet Jae

in Poetry

Notice to Quit by Harriet Jae In ten days’ time, that’s it – she’ll be homeless.Nowhere to go yet her mind whirrs with Why? Questions circle like crows when she’s hopeless. The jackals in power stalk the sick and the harmless.She cowers below a black fluttering sky.In ten days’ time…