The environment - Janine Booth

Haiku: Savings Bank

To save the rivers To pay for their survival We must burst the banks

River Reverie, Lewes Railway Lands

Janine will be contributing poems about rivers at this poetic and musical experience, as the evening event of the River Festival. Venue: The Linklater Pavilion Railway Lane Lewes BN72FG

Companies have suspended polluting the air Governments have suspended cutting our care Energy firms have suspended price rises Landlords have suspended nasty surprises Employers have suspended exploiting our labours Lobbyists have suspended cashing in favours Bosses have suspended giving the … Read more

Effluenza

Our public sewage industry was sold to private bidders Who don’t dispose of putrid waste but dump it in the rivers They take responsibility and flush it down the loo For building up the affluent builds effluence up too The … Read more

Video: Empower the Unions

Janine speaks on why and how we should fight anti-strike and anti-union laws, as part of the launch week for Empower the Unions, a new initiative from Earth Strike UK, a group of anti-capitalist activists in the climate movement. The … Read more

Triolet: Just a Dusting

Just a dusting’s not enough There’s barely ample white to fight It’s floating free like frozen fluff Just a dusting’s not enough No handful for a snowball – tough! This winter’s snowfall’s far too light Just a dusting not enough … Read more

Triolet: Batten Down the Hatches

We’re hiding from Storm Bella, me and my lockdown crew The kid, our pets, my fella, we’re hiding from Storm Bella while listening to Paul Weller and watching Doctor Who We’re hiding from Storm Bella, me and my lockdown crew

Not In School Today

After Earth Beat by Paul Weller Her banner has a planet on, she’s carrying resistance and insisting that the government takes action for a new start for a cleaner, greener future from today. Her classmates walk beside her, she’s a … Read more

Clerihew: Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott jumps like a rabbit from homophobic bile to climate change denial

Blake’s Tiger Revisited

Tiger, tiger, dying out Shrinking forests no redoubt Tell the world to stop and see Its game, its dismal tyranny In what cruel economy Agriculture cuts the tree? Starving our elusive cat Bulldozing its habitat? In what fell society Rising … Read more

Transport and democratic ownership (and Covid-19)

Janine speaks as part of a panel on Covid-19, democratic ownership and the future of the economy in May 2020. – organised by Another Europe Is Possible. Video plus text of speech below. Thank you for inviting me and … Read more

Video: Raging

‘ScoMo Must Go!’ chants demand the end of Scott Morrison’s tenure as Australian Prime Minister. But Janine’s poem argues that it is not just ScoMo who must go, but “Every climate change denier, Neoliberal vote for hire …”.

Raging

“I believe in a fair go for those who have a go … If you’re having a go you’ll get a go.” Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, 2019 Everyone must surely know That Sco- Mo- must- go! Liberals reap … Read more

Planet Pantoum

Bring the cities to a standstill We have to save the planet Put apathy in landfill Take fracking back and ban it We have to save the planet Speak urgently and clear Take fracking back and ban it Disarm the … Read more

Thoughts and Prayers

Racist terror thoughts and prayers Coffin bearer thoughts and prayers Crossing, drowning thoughts and prayers Solemn, frowning thoughts and prayers Thoughts and prayers and sad reactions Thoughts and prayers but rarely actions Stabbed and killed thoughts and prayers Life unfulfilled … Read more