Monthly Archives: November 2018

Out of Choice, by Jennifer Lagier

I am not a silent poet

Republican comes in the dictionary just after reptile and just above repugnant.” – Julia Roberts

Margaret Atwood announces
she is creating a sequel
to The Handmaid’s Tale,
says under current conditions,
the text writes itself.

Daily, I grind my teeth
as the orange cretin
who squats in the White House
boasts of grabbing pussies,
how he’d love dating his daughter,
judges women leaders
solely on the basis of looks.

Within every branch of government,
smug old white men
suck at the public teat
while interfering with
a woman’s right
to control her own body.

Each outrageous last straw
gives way to fresh undermining,
emotional, physical assaults.
Indictment, incarceration
of corrupt administration criminals
can’t come soon enough.

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The number 11 bus, by Anne Gill

I am not a silent poet

Stranger rape is bloody
bad luck, for sure.
But it’s like being
run over by a bus;
you don’t have to
internalise it.

When my mum was run
over walking home she broke
her hip but was still happy to
go past the place at rush
hour she didn’t have any panic
attacks she was just on morphine
for a couple of months she
stayed in bed until her bones
knitted themselves back together.

Most rape is just
lazy just careless.
I mean, a penis
is nowhere near
as dangerous as a gun
even a knife or a fist
or a broomstick or a bottle.
We’ve over-dramatized
the offense.

you have to stop
moping in bed after the thing
that happened the thing we don’t
talk about you have to force out
the nightmares and remembrance
with the hard shell of a brain
you were brought up to have 

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Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Sarah L Dixon

The Wombwell Rainbow

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.
The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

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Sarah L Dixon

lived in Chorlton for 12 years. She moved in May 2017 and is currently based in Linthwaite, Huddersfield and tours as The Quiet Compere.

Sarah has most recently been published in Marble, Confluence, The Interpreter’s House, The Lake, Obsessed with Pipework, Troubadour and Curlew. She had a poem published on a beer-mat and her pamphlet, The sky is cracked was released by the same press in…

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Six poems by Mark Young

the curly mind linguistically innovative poetry - weird & risky

is not to have thought

According to the
patter over & in
between the tracks
from unsigned
bands that the late-
summer elephant is
playing, a burst of
radio energy from
deep space is
likely to cause the
scaling back of opium
production on campus.

The peer reviewed
literature proposes
the use of ritual
cleansing & the
wearing of under-
wire bra bikini
bathing suits with
low cut bottoms
to prepare for any
subsequent mayhem.


Götterdämmerung

I wake up late.

Dylan Thomas is in the bed beside me.

He smells of liquor.

I am about to throw him out when he starts speaking.

His words don’t get to me, but, oh, that Welsh accent.

I remember I liked him, long years ago.

Must have been when I was a windy boy & a bit.

I’ve moved on since, following neither that path

nor the road less traveled by.

Other avenues…

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This is not a poem by Anthony Anaxagorou

This poem has had over 4,000 hits since I first published it! Brilliant, Anthony!

I am not a silent poet

This is not a poem
and I am not a poet
 ……
when I’m unable to find a better way of saying that in 2012
48 people in Great Britain were killed by guns
and 120 women killed by the hands of their beloved partners.
 ……
I am not a poet
 ……
when I can’t find a more beautiful way to say
that no nation in the world imprisons as many members of its population
as America does
 ……
that more Black men in the U.S are incarcerated today
than what they were during the peak of South Africa’s apartheid
no
 ……
I am not a poet
……..
when I can’t find clever words to illustrate the fact
that before 2008 Nelson Mandela had been on America’s list
of most dangerous terrorists for over 60 years
…….
that Cameron is a liar, that Cameron was a key member
of the…

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Rocking Carol, by Sue Millard

I am not a silent poet

The version according to St Donald, 2018
..
Little Jesus, sweetly sleep, do not fuss.
Your Mama wants to become one of us.
We will rock you, rock you, rock you.
We will rock you, rock you, rock you.
Soon our rhythmic marching beat
will out-stamp her weary feet.
,.
Little Jesus, sweetly sleep, do not fret.
Donald tells us you’re a threat.
We will mock you, mock you, mock you.
We will mock you, mock you, mock you.
Do not use your infant smiles.
We are wise to migrant wiles.
..
Little Jesus, sweetly sleep, do not call
While we build our border wall.
We will block you, block you, block you.
We will block you, block you, block you.
Soldiers face you at the gate;
we won’t let you immigrate.
..
Little Jesus, sweetly sleep, do not stir
While the helicopters whirr.
We will shock you, shock you…

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Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Rachel Burns

The Wombwell Rainbow

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.
The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these fiction writers you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

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Rachel Burns

was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne and lives in County Durham. She was selected for a screenwriting talent scheme with Northern Film and Media in 2012 and produced a sample script for ITV Vera. She was shortlisted for the Gillian Hush Award and received a place on an Arvon writing for radio with Anjum Malik and Peter Wild. She has been longlisted in several playwriting competitions…

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chrysalis, by Amy Louise Wyatt

I am not a silent poet

/  homeless  —  please help  /
as if he spoke for every man in every street in every town

his bag:  chrysalis
in the cold he turned to creature that he longed to be

winged  —  flew free  — city full of ants
so busy with their jobs they failed to see that they were carrying

a weight
and he was light and free to fly

—————————————-

small things  —  we are all small things

..

Amy Louise Wyatt is a writer, lecturer and artist from Bangor, N.I.  She has had work published in a range of literary journals and magazines such as The Honest UlstermanFourxFourDodging the Rain and Cold Coffee Stand. Amy has most recently read her poetry on The BBC Arts Show, at University of Ulster’s Riverside Readings and at festivals throughout Ireland . She is the editor of The Bangor Literary Journal

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Under Pressure, by Diana Devlin

I am not a silent poet

They fight for their country
but when it turns on them and they break
free     they’re not heroes     here     but splinters
in our wormed wood
hearts     parts of a whole we’d rather not
see     not here     where they remind us
of the species we’re supposed to be

Turn back Aquarius
leave these shores     embrace the sea     we can’t take
any more     the bitterness of future     regrets     weighs heavy
on our tongues     so go back     don’t come so near
our streets are full of rough
sleepers non dreamers bare existers
there’s nothing for you here     better to sleep smooth
at sea     you are ten thousand fish     tossed over
………….board
……………………………..in cold
………………………………………………….blood

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