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 and Justice: Poems for Grenfell Tower.
Submitted by Janine on
You sit me on a chair that hurts
In a classroom full of noise and light
You put a pen in my wrong hand
And tell me that I have to write
You speak in terms that don't make sense
You write in symbols I can't see
You talk to everyone at once
You talk to everyone but me
Submitted by Janine on
The established religion
is
this:
Royals
bring gifts to baby
born in poverty
Now those
born in poverty
bring gifts to baby
Royals
This
is
the established religion
Submitted by Janine on
Widening roads
parking lorries
carrying loads
of no-deal worries
Laying Tarmac
digging ditches
making car parks
burning bridges
Office holder
riding high on
a hard Brexit shoulder
to pull over and cry on
Sailing boats away
laying mines
widening motorways
narrowing minds
Submitted by Janine on
I saw a poster the other day
that said it's OK
to not be OK
I was sitting in a waiting room
while others sit
or just exist
on a waiting list
for months or years
Worsening trauma, growing fears
Not serious enough to jump the queue
or get what's good for you
Bide your time
stand in line
wait your turn
And as you wait, maybe you'll learn
to be more resilient
that would be brilliant
Parity of esteem?
in your dreams
The stuff of inspriation memes
Buzz words
fuzz words
nothing does words
Set targets
trust the market
It will decide
and it will provide
for those who pay
Submitted by Janine on
I wanted to clap at the funeral today
But I think that is seen as poor taste
I longed to applaud such a brilliant speech
But I feared it would seem out of place
I wanted to shout 'Hear! Hear!' when you said
Deceased was a wonderful chap
The whole of me knew this was so very true
I was craving to let out a clap
Submitted by Janine on
Those who fought it
or those who caused it?
Those who saved sixty-five
or those who cost seventy-two?
Those who did not know the tower was clad in torchwood
or those who chose that cladding because it was cheaper?
Those whose chosen job is to walk into burning buildings to save life
or those whose careers are built on making money by cutting corners?
Submitted by Janine on
More intimate with
Intimate moisturiser
Than I'd like to be
Submitted by Janine on
I fancied some titilating photos
so I went on an upskirting hunt
I didn't really care about consent,
that's if I'm being blunt
I came across Sir Christopher
and thought I'd have a punt
I'd capture a peek of his private parts,
I'd chortle and I'd grunt
It seemed to me a great idea,
a harmless and witty stunt
But what was the image my camera showed?
Submitted by Janine on
Work hard, be conscientious, be afraid
Your life won't be worth living if you fail
The only thing that matters is your grade
Feel guilty for each error you have made
Learn quotes by rote and don't stop to exhale
Work hard, be conscientious, be afraid
Of falling short of A-star accolade
Don't eat, don't sleep, travail your skin to pale
The only thing that matters is your grade
Submitted by Janine on
Boris Johnson nominates
the President of the United States
He says the Nobel Prize for Peace
should go to Donald Trump
But that joker has been played before
No satire in it any more
Irony died, doesn't he see?
when Kissinger won it in seventy-three
