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, 24 February 2024 15:59

The Workers Consider the Strike as Serota Observes the Richter

Written by James O Brien

in Poetry

The Workers Consider the Strike as Serota Observes the Richter by James O'Brien The undertaker appeared rooted, transfixed as a glare,As rigid as a fire poker in front of a thin scraped canvas.The workers congregated, against standing orders,But the business of the day could not be unsaid.He was in that…

Saturday, 24 February 2024 15:45

Shared anger

Written by Alan McCormick

in Poetry

Shared Anger by Alan McCormick ice through their veins,a slab holding form,despite the friction,the heat from outside, ruling with fists,starving with favours,silencing the herd,who die to speak, bloodletting on tap,hearts drip dried, dissing the truth,with viral overloads, too much screen time,ranting scream time, your touch that held,now fallen aside, time…

Friday, 23 February 2024 12:21

A new and original anthology of radical Welsh poetry

Written by Culture Matters

in Poetry

Culture Matters intends to publish a new and original anthology of radical Welsh poetry. It will be edited by Mike Jenkins, founder member of the Red Poets collective and an Associate Editor of Culture Matters. Submissions are warmly invited, and here are some guidelines: Guidelines 1. Entries can be one…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Friday, 23 February 2024 10:46

We're back, baby! Rebel Admin and other poetry @ Centrala, Birmingham

in Poetry

Written by Fran Lock

Culture Matters was back at Centrala in Digbeth on the 9th February 2024, to celebrate the launch of Al Hutchins' stonking cerebral masterwork, Rebel Admin (Culture Matters, 2023), to revel in the wealth and diversity of working-class literary talent in the West Midlands, and to raise money for MAP and…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 20 February 2024 17:09

Miss Una Marson Speaks

in Poetry

Written by Jenny Mitchell

Miss Una Marson Speaks by Jenny Mitchell Call me glutton as I gorged on every English word – a book-mad child in Santa Cruz, Jamaica – my first and only love the far-off Mother Country, high-toned language on my tongue to sound as good as her. At ten, when father…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 19 February 2024 14:52

Winding Back

in Poetry

Written by Mike Jenkins

This poem is about The Winding House museum in New Tredegar in the Valleys (see above), built on the site of the Elliot colliery. It is due to be shut by Caerffili's Labour Council at the end of March as part of cuts. My choir Merthyr Aloud will sing there…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 13 February 2024 08:38

AI, machines and humans: Two poems by Martin Hayes

in Poetry

Written by Martin Hayes

Here are a couple of poems from a new collection by Martin Hayes for Smokestack Books, called Machine Poems. the definition of a machine something that is made from following the instructions of a blueprintrather than the pure mistakes of lust something non-binary with legs or arms that have been…

Sunday, 11 February 2024 16:00

Poetry for Palestine: Testament / Sajél, by Farid Bitar

Written by Culture Matters

in Poetry

Farid Bitar's Testament / Sajél, as its title suggests, is a testament to our tempestuous times, taking in the seismic events and vicissitudes of the past few years, including the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020-22, and the Black Lives Matter movement in response to the death of George Floyd. But perhaps…

Gaza genocide Nakba

Thursday, 08 February 2024 20:37

Dwell Time, by Tom Branfoot

Written by Fran Lock

in Poetry

Introduction to 'Dwell Time' by Tom Branfoot, Poet in Residence at Manchester Cathedral – see attached pdf By Fran Lock The idea of 'dwelling' as homely habitation is a relatively modern one. In Old English 'dwellan' is not to inhabit, but to mislead, to lead astray. By the Middle Ages,…

Thursday, 08 February 2024 15:52

A Machinery Handbook Will Never Solve This Problem

Written by Fred Voss

in Poetry

A Machinery Handbook Will Never Solve This Problem by Fred Voss A machinist is hired and rolls his rollaway toolbox down the machine shop aisle and parks it beside a workbench and steps upto a machine10 or 20 feet away from another machinistat another machineat firstthe machinists enjoy comparing each…

Donald Trump Joe Biden The Doors Vietnam War UFOs I'm right No you're not, I am You're wrong No I'm not, you are

Sunday, 04 February 2024 12:33

Sean Fitzgerald

Written by Nick Moss

in Poetry

Sean Fitzgerald by Nick Moss The jakes told a passerby "We're just executing a warrant".There was an execution, for sure.January 4th 2019.Sean Fitzgerald, aged 31.Burnaby Road.Coventry.No mention of firearms on the warrant.No firearms found.Drugs as the justification.No drugs found.West Midlands copsStaged their theatre of death anyway.With chainsaw, hammers, flashbombs, gunsLots…