What We Want
I thought the pay Was quite OK When I first came through the door Then I paid my rent And it was spent And now I want some more The company’s board Say they can’t afford They’ve got no more … Read more
Marxist. Trade Unionist. Socialist-feminist. Author. Poet. Speaker. Tutor. RMT ex-Exec. Workers' Liberty. Autie. Bi. PUFC fan.
Each stanza has four iambic lines, of four, three, four and three beats. The four lines rhyme abcb, and balladeers may use an internal rhyme in the first and third lines.
I thought the pay Was quite OK When I first came through the door Then I paid my rent And it was spent And now I want some more The company’s board Say they can’t afford They’ve got no more … Read more
The true story of how Leonard Cohen learned his guitar style … Leonard walked in Murray Hill Park And heard a young man play Circled by listeners and courting them In some mysterious way With black hair and acoustic guitar … Read more
Written on the occasion of the Labour Party’s campaign day for the NHS. It isn’t my humour That sees off my tumour Or my banter and mocking derision It isn’t my laugh But the medical staff And their caring, their … Read more
Anne Naysmith d. 9 February 2015 A tale to tell along the track The corner of a byroad A box in the paper edged in black For the dame of Chiswick High Road With operatic majesty Her leading man and … Read more
Without us nothing’s moved nor made No building and no bricks Without us no foundations laid And nothing broken fixed Without our labour they’ve no purpose No profits, only losses The bosses always need the workers But workers don’t need bosses … Read more
Written in response to today’s tabling of new anti-union laws … Said the gaoler to the sleeping giant Your ties aren’t tight enough These bonds are very slightly pliant You need a tougher cuff Said the sleeping giant to the … Read more
We put our differences aside As wise advisers said We swept them out of open sight And left them there for dead And how the atmosphere improved And how united we Now sidelined were our differences And we could all … Read more
Despite our crusade to screw the low-paid And the jobless and sick in our midst They’re parading their crimes in our nursery rhymes And in fairy tales told to our kids We just can not pander to this vile propaganda … Read more
Since Eighteen Ninety In all of its finery Stood Gibbons the furniture sellers London’s last such attraction With cash-only transaction Until plastic caught up with the fellas They eventually gave in To modernity’s whim With a sign saying ‘We accept … Read more