Poetry (including by other people)

In the 1790s, poet William Blake wrote 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell', which included 'Proverbs of Hell'. Here is a modern poem of proverbs ...

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If it ain't broke, it soon will be
If you want to get ahead, get yourself a trilby

A roast duck won't fly into the mouth of a peasant
No man is an island but some are a desert

This stanza is sponsored
by a weekend bonanza
of two-for-one deals
on our easy-cook meals
from the town's happy eater
which has paid for its meter

All of its sponsors
have generously given
a big wodge of dosh
for their brand on its rhythm

A local disk jockey
has sponsored a trochee
(That's a tum-tee-tum beat
with some well-branded feet)

Poetry paints life, cancer takes it
Poetry means it, cancer fakes it

Cancer can not write, create,
Feel or think, illuminate,
Wipe your brow, commiserate

You're fucking rubbish, you are, cancer
Not a writer, player, dancer
Bring nothing useful to the table
Can't tell a joke 'cos you're not able

Poet Jason Pilley put together an anthology of poetry, printed 300 copies, and he and others gave them away on London's South Bank on a June Saturday while performing poetry.

Splendid.

Janine's poem, 'Turn Up The Heating' was included.

Published in Solidarity 397, 9 March 2016

Once the Military Service Act come into force in 1916, men aged 18-41 had to apply to a Military Tribunal if they believed that they had a reason not to be drafted. The majority had health, work or family reasons, but 2% were Conscientious Objectors (COs): men who objected to military service because they objected to war.

From its declaration of war in 1914, Britain’s ruling class appealed to patriotism to boost its support and its military recruitment. By 1916 both were flagging. On the pages of socialist newspaper The Herald, poets used verse to question both nationalism and the war’s aims. When the government asked men to fight for King and Country, was it shielding its true motives?

Published in Solidarity 396, 2 March 2016.

Published in Solidarity 394, 17 February 2016.

A century ago, with Britain at war, the Woman's Dreadnought published this poem:

CHRISTMAS EVE
- to man the comfortable