We Not Me / Ni Nid Fi
£6.00
This the fourth book in a series of anthologies of radical poetry from contemporary Wales, protesting and grieving austerity at home and wars abroad. The poems point to the need for a sense of the common good, and solidarity and empathy, rather than neoliberal egoism and greed – we not me, us not I.
The 60-odd poems in this anthology are all about struggles, on a local, national and international level, and how solidarity, co-operation and a concern for the common good is being replaced by individualism and the interests of privately-owned big business.
The poets’ sense of deep outrage and sadness at the continuing austerity locally and warmongering internationally, is countered by their defiance and optimism. ‘Me’ may seem isolated and vulnerable, but ‘we’ can join together in solidarity and empathy.
From our local areas, from a nation often dismissed as an afterthought, and from a world where war and genocide are fomented, backed and armed by powerful Western governments, these poems rise up in hurt, indignation and anger, but also in hope and compassion. We not me, us not I.
We Not Me / Ni Nid Fi, An Anthology of Radical Poetry from Contemporary Wales, edited by Mike Jenkins, ISBN 978-0-99-702549-1, 125 pps., £6.
