In East London. Where I live. Great place.
Submitted by Janine on
Isn't this a heartland too?
We have poundshops, pawnshops, boarded-up shops
and industries replaced by social services
We too have schools with leaking roofs
and youth in gigs and gangs and anguish
Isn't this a heartland too?
We have hearts and we have lands
Hearts that beat on rundown streets
and lands blemished with landfill
and corporate-municipal scandal
Submitted by Janine on
This site was a nursery
next to the municipal mortuary
Council care from the cradle to the grave
with alphabets and sing-alongs and rhymes
Once upon a time
Then they closed it.
Next it became a unit where the students
the schools had driven up the walls
were taken to be straightened out
or at least kept away from trouble
Then they closed it. And sold the site.
Submitted by Janine on
Janine Booth, Matt Abbott, Mark Coverdale and Fran Isherwood entertaining the troops - well, pickets - during the latest strike action for a living wage and decent workiing conditions at Hackney Picturehouse cinema.
You can donate to the strike fund here.
Submitted by Janine on
On 13 January, I addressed Hackney's Health and Wellbeing Board as part of its Patient Voice agenda item, discussing provision for autistic adults in the Borough. Rather belatedly, Hackney is now considering a draft plan to implement its duties under the Autism Act. Here's what I said ...
Submitted by Janine on
Janine will be debating James Abbott, editor of railway journal "Modern Railways", at this meeting fro members of the Labour Party in Leabridge ward.
Venue: St John Ambulance Hall, 1a Mildenhall Road, E5 0RU
Submitted by Janine on
An article published in Workers' Liberty no.66 in 2001, which turned out to be a precursor to my 2009 book, Guilty and Proud Of It.
Submitted by Janine on
Come and enjoy an evening of poetry and spoken word from new and established poets / writers, including a five-minute slot from Janine.
Poetry 7pm – 10pm
Dare2bDifferent After Party 10pm-3am
Tipsy Bar 20 Stoke Newington Road, Dalston, London N16 7XN
Submitted by Janine on
A Petrarchan sonnet (yes, really) on getting a night bus to catch an international train ...
I used to but I haven't missed this bus
At 5a.m., a half-full cart to take
The staff who clean and guard before you wake
Who start the engines 'fore the rest of us
From brief repose unwilling exodus
Hold open half-mast eyes on work-worn faces
Resignedly wishing they weren't going places
No chat, no caucus, nothing to discuss
But then I disembark and change my routes
And switch dimensions through a boarding gate
Some two hours later morning, bright debate
White, coffee-charged commuters sporting suits
While most of those on night bus 38
Were black and wearing hi-vis, smocks and boots
Submitted by Janine on
Get this! Hopelessly unthinking about the barbarity and injustice of state executions, we have a "pop-up restaurant" themed as "death row dinners". Pass the sick bag.
Submitted by Janine on
(Swearing appropriate to the tone of the verse)
Why the fuck did you nick my bike?
What have I ever done to you?
