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

Saturday, 20 April 2019 21:01

Saint Martin in Euston

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

Saint Martin in Euston by Fran Lock miserere. monday is a man reduced to his bare incident, a stain the pavement eats. a sharded light is stalled between the concrete benches, busses, cranes. drills compete, declare a complex discord. everywhere the air is rutted, hurts. and yet the earth turns…

Thursday, 18 April 2019 15:35

where once there was grass

Written by Martin Hayes

in Poetry

where once there was grass by Martin Hayes the yellow and green of the ambulanceused to be all whitewith just one single blue lighton the top of it the boys used to swedge a little in the parksfisticuffs and a boot in the gutsnot saying that’s rightbut at least they…

Thursday, 14 March 2019 14:46

Butcher's Dozen: Bloody Sunday, 47 years on

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Poetry

Jenny Farrell protests the decision only to charge one paratrooper, and introduces extracts from Thomas Kinsella's poem, Butcher's Dozen Shock and disbelief is the reaction of most people in Ireland to the decision of the N. Ireland Prosecution Service (NIPP) only to charge one British paratrooper, “Soldier F” in connection…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 13 March 2019 11:18

Shabbigentile: a radical challenge to poetry, politics and economics

in Poetry

Written by Dave Russell

Dave Russell reviews Alan Morrison's latest collection, Shabbigentile. With this book I feel that I am confronted by a category-breaker – a work that bridges the gulf between the passion of poetry and outrage, and the analytical precision of a major historian and political theorist. I have always associated the…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 08 March 2019 22:24

IWD 2019: Eighteen working women poets

in Poetry

Written by Fran Lock and Jane Burn

In honour of International Women’s Day, Jane Burn and Fran Lock present a free downloadable collection of poems from eighteen working women poets.

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 05 March 2019 20:25

IWD 2019: My Mother Margie & Rosie the Riveter

in Poetry

Written by Joan Jobe Smith Voss

My Mother Margie & Rosie the Riveter by Joan Jobe Smith In 1942, my mother Margie age 22 in World War 2 moved to Long Beach, California to work as a Rosie the Riveter at Douglas Aircraft factory and though she had been a hard-working farm girl in Dust Bowl…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 28 February 2019 17:21

Entrailpreneur

in Poetry

Written by wendy young

Entrailpreneur by Wendy Young An obscene excuse for a human being, hands - greasy as your slick backed hair -that cut the cards that make the deals that deck your boats that seal the fate ofMinions That skirt your tails that bang your drum that snatch your crumbs that lot…

Friday, 01 March 2019 13:15

Bread and Roses Poetry Award 2019

Written by Mike Quille

in Poetry

Culture Matters is pleased to announce that the third Bread and Roses Poetry Award, sponsored by Unite, 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 Award to create…

Thursday, 28 February 2019 20:07

Two poems for St. David's Day

Written by Mike Jenkins

in Poetry

The Dai Caps by Mike Jenkins Ave yew yeardthere's Welsh peopletakin t the streetsan they int wearinthem yellow vests like in France,but traditional dress? Nah, not them tall black ats,not even trackies or shell-suits,but all of emare sportin caps. Women an men, teens an kidssayin no way austerity,sayin yes way…

Thursday, 28 February 2019 09:57

Listening Exercise

Written by Kevin Higgins

in Poetry

When the Independent Group (Chuka et al) broke away last week, John McDonnell said that the Labour Party needed now to conduct a "massive listening exercise." Listening Exerciseafter John McDonnell When you paint hatred on my garden walland front door, I will read your wordswith great interest. When you try…

Sunday, 24 February 2019 19:58

Another kind of beauty

Written by Fred Voss

in Poetry

Another kind of beauty by Fred Voss The young womanstands at the Bridgeport millin the cold machine shop morning air she has pulled the hood of her jacket overher headbaggy work pants and shirt big work boots coverher bodyonly her face and hands stick out for us men machinists to…