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
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
Submitted by Janine on
Nicola Adams
Is dancing with Madams
Instead of with Misters
Ten points for the sisters
Submitted by Janine on
Johnny Rotten
Has obviously forgotten
The establishment he maligned
Now he talks bollocks: never mind
Submitted by Janine on
Nadia Whittome
Knows how to hit 'em
When the leader's a drip
She's defying the whip
Submitted by Janine on
Princess Anne
Married a man
Who served in the Forces
Ah well - horses for courses
