History Lessons
Submitted by Janine on
My Poems
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
Video: Ribbons of Scarlet
Submitted by Janine on
Ribbons of Scarlet
Submitted by Janine on
- a golden shovel after 'Scarlet Ribbons', for Cush
Opinionated
Submitted by Janine on
You expressed your opinion.
In response, I expressed my opinion,
which was different from your opinion
In response to me expressing an opinion
different from your opinion
You shouted
I'M ENTITLED TO EXPRESS MY OPINION!
as though by expressing an opinion
at variance with your opinion
I had been denying your right to express your opinion
which, of course, I hadn't.
Self-Isolation in a Single Hostel Room
Submitted by Janine on
Day 1 confined to room - no going out
Day 2 do push-ups, Netflix, clean the floor
Day 3 phone friends and scrub the tiling grout
Day 4 a breakfast bag outside the door
Day 5 phone friends and tell them how I'm feeling
Day 6 lean out the window for some air
Day 7 sit-ups, Netflix, clean the ceiling
Day 8 phone friends to tell them I still care
Triolet: Just a Dusting
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Just a dusting's not enough
There's barely ample white to fight
It's floating free like frozen fluff
Just a dusting's not enough
No handful for a snowball - tough!
This winter's snowfall's far too light
Just a dusting not enough
There's barely ample white to fight
The Prime Minister Speaks on the Occasion of One Hundred Thousand U.K. Covid Deaths
Submitted by Janine on
Boris is sorry - deeply sorry -
for every life that's been lost
Johnson is worried - deeply worried -
about the political cost
He takes responsibility - full responsibility -
for all of the government's actions
Johnson is possibly - in all probability -
counting financial transactions
Silent Night
Submitted by Janine on
It's Thursday evening, eight o'clock, no sound
No passing cars or footsteps on the ground
No pots or pans or cheering to be found
As nobody is clapping this time round
When this began, we clapped them off to war
Then came reports that we could not ignore
Low pay, long hours, no P.P.E. in store
Now no-one claps for carers any more
Storming the Capitol
Submitted by Janine on
Trump set their touchpaper alight
They marched there tooled up for a fight
They're so convinced that they are right
And most still live - because they're white
From a Dragon's Den in Milton Keynes
Submitted by Janine on
After Come to Milton Keynes by Paul Weller
Me and the rest of the company grunts, we
know for sure that we are being used
as fodder for the god of profit, doff the cap to
ownership, it seems we’re whipped to chase
targets and schemes instead of our dreams.
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