Words Aloud

Words don’t kill people. People do. People read, write, type, invent, speak, whisper and shout words. But words themselves don’t kill – or do they?

In Michael’s latest book for Culture Matters, he explores the role and meaning of words in our lives. In around forty new poems, divided into four sections, he explores words. For starters there are words about to his family and their origins in the dimly lit post-war London suburbs. Then he questions educational words: arts education, and the commercialisation of higher education.

The main course of words comprises political poems, examining the words we use in politics to talk about countries and people who aren’t so different from us. As in Words United, Rosen sends out satirical word-drones about the lies and hypocrisies of Trump, Vance, Netanyahu and Starmer, and the complicit media that colludes with their bellicose policies. Finally, he rounds off the collection with a mixture of poems, a kind of word-dessert for the reader to enjoy.

The book is illustrated by several family photographs from Rosen’s collection, and the cover is by Martin Rowson, based on one of the poems about how Michael was taken for hikes by his father. It features Michael as an 8 and 80 year old, accompanied by an old friend.

Words Aloud by Michael Rosen, ISBN 978-1-912710-17-1, 100 pps., £10 inc. p. and p. for UK addresses, £10 plus £6 p. and p. for worldwide addresses. Please allow 1-2 weeks for delivery.

All profits from books and ebooks sold will be donated to Medical Aid for Palestine.