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, 02 April 2020 14:13

Callout: Bread and Roses Poetry Award 2020

Written by Mike Quille

in Poetry

Culture Matters is pleased to announce that the fourth Bread and Roses Poetry Award, kindly sponsored by Unite the Union, is now open for entries. Our mission is to promote a socialist approach to all cultural activities, including arts such as poetry. So we run the Bread and Roses Poetry…

Thursday, 02 April 2020 10:19

After Lockdown

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

After Lockdown By Christopher Norris, with images by Martin Gollan and James Gillray No we’ll never go back to the bad old days,To the days of corporate greed,When the bankers thrived on their bad old ways,And the poor folk went in need.For when viruses strike they don’t care who pays,Who’s…

Covid19 Boris Johnson

Sunday, 29 March 2020 13:39

Covid-19: The General Speaks of His Sorrow

Written by Gabriel Rosenstock

in Poetry

A poem in Irish and English by Gabriel Rosenstock, with image by Otto Dix called Wounded Soldier Covid 19: The General Speaks of His Sorrow by Gabriel Rosenstock Self-isolation . . .These bitter days When can I send battalionsOf raw young menTo warTo crush their bonesAnd the bones of others…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 28 March 2020 21:33

Questions From The Dead

in Poetry

Written by K. Satchidanandan

Questions from the Dead by K. Satchidanandan Which country’s border was Hiuen Tsang crossing when, on a donkey, he crossed the Himalayan pass with a sack full of Buddhist texts? Whence came the races that spokeDravidian and Aryan tongues? Was there no one in Indiawhen they landed here? Not even…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 28 March 2020 10:54

Everyone's Hearts Were Clapping

in Poetry

Written by Owen Gallagher

onavirusEveryone’s Hearts Were Clapping by Owen Gallagher Everyone stood outside their front door.As the clock struck eight they began to clap slowly as if someone was coming on stage but as more in the street joined in, they clapped louder and louder as if they were freeingsomething within, perhaps a…

Coronavirus NHS

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 26 March 2020 13:46

A Fearless Gaze of Hope: Quines, by Gerda Stevenson

in Poetry

Written by Jim Aitken

Jim Aitken reviews a book of radical women’s voices: Quines, by Gerda Stevenson. Accompanying illustrations of textiles are by artists from EDGE: Textile Artists Scotland. The second edition of Gerda Stevenson’s ‘Quines’ came out with some fanfare as it was launched to coincide with International Women’s Day. The launch at…

Edge Textile Artists

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 25 March 2020 08:31

In The White Man’s Clinic

in Poetry

Written by Kevin Higgins

On the day the Irish government announced they are (for the duration of the crisis) incorporating all private hospitals into the public health system, Kevin Higgins offers this poem in memoriam of Ireland's two tier health system which will hopefully never come back. It was inspired by a private hospital,…

Coronavirus

Tuesday, 24 March 2020 10:23

Coronavirus: Retrospect 2040

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

Coronavirus: retrospect 2040 by Christopher Norris It’s twenty years ago and moreCoronavirus hit.It hit the sick, it hit the poor,And shares went quickly through the floor,But we said ‘wait a bit, why notStay calm and wait a bit?’. For we saw how it just might go,This re-run of old scenesThat…

Covid19

Monday, 16 March 2020 16:16

We Don't Expect Napoleon To Fill Our Glass With Courvoisier Cognac Any Time Soon

Written by Fred Voss

in Poetry

We Don't Expect Napoleon To Fill Our Glass With Courvoisier Cognac Any Time Soon by Fred Voss We make parts for a company that wants to send a manto Marsbut all we need to do is leave the hard concrete floor of our machine shopand step inside our company offices…

Monday, 16 March 2020 15:16

Resurging

Written by David Betteridge

in Poetry

David Betteridge presents a major new long poem, a meditation on last December's setback to the socialist Left. Illustrations are by his longtime friend and collaborator, Bob Starrett, official artist at the Upper Clyde Shipyard Work-In in 1972. RESURGING In memory of Albert Marsden, Scunthorpe steelworker, trade union official, community…

Sunday, 08 March 2020 09:44

Capital and Christ's message: For Ernesto Cardenal

Written by Chris Norris

in Poetry

Chris Norris presents a poem in honour of Ernesto Cardenal (1925 – 2020) Ernesto Cardenal, who died on March 1st this year, was a Nicaraguan poet, Marxist, Catholic priest and lifelong left activist who fought a protracted campaign against the more conservative wing of Catholic religious and social doctrine. When…

Ernesto Cardenal