Marxist. Trade Unionist. Socialist-feminist. Author. Poet. Speaker. Tutor. RMT ex-Exec. Workers' Liberty. Autie. Bi. PUFC fan.

Poetry books

Janine's collections of poetry, all of which can be bought on this website, here.

What they are saying about 'Unprecedented Rhymes'

Submitted by Janine on 07 April 2021 at 15:35

Buy it here.

Janine’s poetry is a raw and powerful expression of the solidarity between working- class people (in all our diversity) throughout history but also particularly the community resistance and togetherness that we have felt during the pandemic.
Nadia Whittome MP

Janine has, through these poems, accurately described life through the pandemic for millions, the frustrations and feelings of being undervalued throughout the mismanagement of it whilst low-paid, undervalued key workers have kept the country going. Absolutely brilliant from start to finish!
Sarah Woolley, General Secretary, Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

Unprecedented Rhymes is a clever, big-mouthed, bitesize commentary on the first year of Covid-19. Its rollercoaster mirrors these broken times perfectly, right up to wondering if your legs are gonna work when you get off.
Gail ‘Something Else’, festival organiser

Prolific, radical and always topical, Janine Booth is one of the great performance poets of our age.
Attila the Stockbroker, poet, musician, troubadour

Janine Booth brings her trademark indomitable spirit to a collection of dangerously direct and honest poems, bottling a cocktail of emotions and human stories gathered across the first year of life under COVID-19 lockdown in the UK. Janine lays out the reality of corruption, neglect, and mismanagement, and rants her way to a definitive, defiant, and hopeful chronicle of life-under-lockdown.
The Repeat Beat Poet

No poet strikes a [power] chord with the feminist punk sorority more than Janine Booth. 
Cassie Fox, Loud Women

Janine Booth is that rare creature, a political poet’s poet. In her work, fire and commitment stand clearly and fearlessly alongside creative clarity and razor-sharp warfare. She takes no hostages. These poems bluntly debunk the bullshit which we’re endless fed. Hers is no hackneyed voice. It comes to us fresh, fierce and fulsome. Embrace it. 
Nick Toczek, poet and writer

 

Top Fades and Patterns

Submitted by Janine on 27 August 2020 at 16:42

This poem was written in response to this photograph, for a collection of poems inspired by photos taken in Manchester, compiled by Flapjack Press.

 

Standing outside, he is
touting for business
Guys in the doorway
show he'll do it your way
Gradients matter
Top fades and patterns

What They Are Saying About 'The Big J vs The Big C'

Submitted by Janine on 07 February 2020 at 12:42

This book is a must for all health care workers - doctors, nurses, students, caterers, cleaners, porters - the team needed by patients facing The Big C.
Stage 2a, stage 3b, stage 4 are numbers which tell us about diagnoses and planning treatment.The numbers do not tell us about who is on zero hours contracts or in insecure housing at risk of losing work and home, who is fretting about bus fares, who is caring for children or parents, the disruption to study and relationships, the time, the time, the time.
This book does tell us about people, the numbers and the NHS. Read it for your patients and yourself, to celebrate our part in this amazing service which is there for everyone when people need it.
Dr Coral Jones, GP and Chair of Hackney South and Shoreditch Labour Party