Having written and performed as The Big J in the 1980s, Janine started again in 2014, after a brief interlude of around a quarter of a century.
Froms sonnets to villanelles, limericks to ballads, the occasional rap and plenty of straightforward rants, serious and humorous and sometimes both, here is Janine's verse.
Janine's poems have been published in numerous poetry and other journals and websites, including Algebra of Owls, South Bank Poetry, the Daily Mirror, PUSH, Hour of Writes, Proletarian Poetry, Confluence Medway, Screaming Violets, Poetry24, Solidarity, Stand Up and Spit, Hastings Independent, Freedom, Women’s Fightback, the Morning Star, Rising and TenFootCity; and in anthologies Spies4Life, Poems for Jeremy Corbyn, Justice: Poems for Grenfell Tower.and Ashes to Activists
Submitted by Janine on
We must rewild this island
with lynxes, wolves and bears
From lowland up to highland
We must rewild this island
in waterways and dry land
with beaver dams and lairs
We must rewild this island
with lynxes, wolves and bears
Submitted by Janine on
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 arm
And get me safe and vaccinated
Submitted by Janine on
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 lockdown
is going to end in tears
Submitted by Janine on
They never talked about the war,
the ones who fought and struggled through it
Why speak of memories so sore?
They never talked about the war
but football, politics and more
Unless the young asked them to do it,
they never talked about the war,
the ones who fought and struggled through it
Submitted by Janine on
The courts prejudge and penalise,
applying law, not playing fair,
convicting of 'joint enterprise'
Two words that catch and criminalise
the skin you're in, the clothes you wear,
they prejudge and they penalise
You're guilty in the system's eyes
and though they know you were elsewhere
convict you of 'joint enterprise'
Submitted by Janine on
She didn’t say the war was won
Instead she said the war was ended
Fall silent now, the bomb and gun
She didn’t say the war was won
There’s future-building to be done
Place and people to be mended
She didn’t say the war was won
Instead she said the war was ended
Submitted by Janine on
For my fellow cat-owning Jam fans.
Territorial war and a screaming stand-off
A recent kill and a ripped-up bench seat
Kittens wailing, scared dog howling
The screech for food and sharp claws sinking
Cats’ entertainment, cats’ entertainment
Submitted by Janine on
From very slightly different points of view
To lose an eye has given me perspective
It isn't quite as good as having two
But one eye is surprisingly effective
To lose an eye has given me perspective
At first it made my vision go quite flat
But one eye is surprisingly effective
Once the brain's acclimatised to that
Submitted by Janine on
Back before barring blacks became banned
Bristol buses blocked brown-skinned blokes becoming buscrew
But better Bristolians batted back
bit the bullet and boycotted the buses
Bent-backed, booted bipeds bicycled,
as bitter brushes blazed between bile and benevolence
Bands of brave, belligerent banner-bearers
branded the ban biased, barbarous balderdash
Submitted by Janine on
Morrissey
Is even worse than Boris, he
Had a stroke of luck
When he missed that ten-tonne truck
