Triolet: End of Lockdown 2
It looks as though the lockdown is going to end in tiers For while we count the clock down it looks as though the lockdown is ending with a knockdown of haircuts, meals and beers It looks as though the … Read More
Issues and campaigns: Covid-19
Poems and ponderings on the health crisis that hit the world in early 2020.
Triolet: Grab That Jab
Stick that needle in my arm And get me safe and vaccinated Hush the waves of false alarm Stick that needle in my arm Protect the herd from virus harm Stay cool and keep refrigerated Stick that needle in my … Read More
Letter: Don’t Leave Some Jobs Behind
Letter published in Solidarity 567: The editorial of Solidarity 566 rightly called for a big expansion of public-sector jobs to tackle the Covid-related economic crisis, through both the creation of new jobs in existing public services and through nationalizing corporations … Read More
Video: Stay the F*ck Home
Five Leaves Bookshop hosts Janine reading her poem, Stay the Fuck Home, which features in the anthology, Coronaverses: poems from the pandemic.
Things You May Do in Groups of More than Six
Earn Learn Wed Be dead Compete (if you’re elite)
TUC report reveals racism but offers no answer
Published in Solidarity 562: A TUC report, Dying on the job: racism and risk at work, has revealed the deep-seated racism that underlies the higher impact of Covid-19 on black and minority ethnic (BME) people, but its proposals fall well … Read More
Pick For Britain
Britain needs pickers We have a picking drought Particularly since we’ve kicked our usual pickers out So pick yourself up and dust yourself down Pick up a lift heading out of your town Here’s your harvest basket – fill it! … Read More
Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief
Let’s keep this briefing brief We don’t want the grief I’ll shuffle my sheaf Turn over a leaf and pass that question to the medical chief
Janine Booth at the WSO Isolation Fest
Janine’s video contribution to We Shall Overcome’s Isolation Festival, held online on 11 April 2020, featuring the poems: Disaffected Middle-Aged Women Clap for Carers Wherefore Art Thou, Capitalism? Unskilled Thoughts and Prayers
Video: Coronaverses Live
More than twenty poets read their contributions to the anthology Coronaverses: poems from the pandemic. Buy the book here.
Coronavirus Has Caught Bolsonaro
He was socially close, untamed, unmasked His magic medicine uncasked He didn’t care so he never asked He’ll brush it off, he’s so athletic The tough guy, leading man aesthetic No chance it makes him empathetic He’ll rise above like … Read More
Pandemic
Lyrics by “Borissey” Pandemic on the streets of London Pandemic on the streets of Birmingham I wonder to myself Could lives ever be saved again? The jobs and care that they cut down I wonder to myself Deaths may rise … Read More
On the Level
Freeborn John was one Coronavirus is not: A great leveller
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
Advice to a Worker in Danger
This is a poem to tell you your rights, if you find yourself working at dangerous sites So please brush up your knowledge and uphold the law – know that workers at risk have the right to withdraw So if … Read More
Let Them Be Heroes
Teachers say: Let Daily Mail writers be heroes Let them walk naked through war zones Let them battle with an invisible enemy Let them fall on the battlefield in even greater numbers than they already have Safe in the knowledge … Read More
How to Run a Daily Briefing
If you can, find figures that make Britain look better than other countries. If you can’t, then explain that foreigners count differently from us Brits. If asked questions about health and care workers, say that they are heroes. If pressed … Read More
All in the Same Boat
They were all in it together, all in the same boat, From upper decks to lower, they’d sink as one or float But some folk were in first class and they got out alive, While most folk were in steerage … Read More
Unmute Yourself
Here’s one for those among you who are fans of Prince Buster, The Specials or anyone else who has recorded ‘Enjoy Yourself’: Unmute yourself, ’cos it’s your turn to speak Unmute yourself, your words will be unique The meeting is … Read More
R<1
R is the Reproduction Ratio of a virus, the average number that each infected person infects. R is the Rate at which viruses spread When R’s above one, expect more and more dead R is the Ratio of of patients … Read More