Poetry

Alan Morrison: A polemical poet August 2012
Jan Goodey meets poet Alan Morrison and explores his latest work on mental illness

Palestine’s wandering poet April 2011
Mike Marqusee on Mahmoud Darwish, the poet of the Palestinian people

The message is not the medium May 2009
Radical poetry just sloganises, argues BRIGG57. Good poetry is about much more than its politics

On Adrian Mitchell’s Answerphone December 2008
On Adrian Mitchell’s answerphone - bells ring, birds sing, saxophones swing! On Adrian Mitchell’s answerphone - Blake works a miracle, Big Ben sounds hysterical, the world waxes lyrical! On Adrian Mitchell’s answerphone - the passwords sigh, the terrorists cry, the children fly! On Adrian Mitchell’s answerphone - leave plenty of love - after the tone! [...]

Well versed December 2008
From publishing translations of the only known female poet whose work has survived from Roman times to editing a successful poetry column in the Morning Star, the anarchist-communist John Rety is well respected in the poetry world. Here he describes his long involvement with poetry and chooses four poems from his new book Well Versed, an anthology of his Morning Star column, to share with Red Pepper readers

At the crossroads December 2008
I built the best of England With my brain and with my hands. Liberty Equality Fraternity – That’s where I took my stand, And the people called me Old Labour The brave heart of this land I walked out of the smoky streets To enjoy some country air, But when I came to the crossroads, [...]

Inside December 2008
Day breaks, at a pace that makes the face ache and just for his faith’s sake, he tries to stay calm he looks down at his young man’s hands and at his arms and remembers a time when they seemed so much smaller outside it’s grey and as the rain beats a rhythm on the [...]

The lamplighter (extract) December 2008
Scene 1: Interior fort The noise of the sea slapping against the walls of Cape Coast Castle. The sound of many different African languages, talking fast, scared. ANNIWAA: I am a girl. I am in the dark. I don’t know how long I’ve been kept in the dark. High above me, there is a tiny [...]

Something worth fighting for November 2008
A poem by Carol Ann Duffy has been removed by a school exam board. Michael Rosen thinks poets may have a battle on their hands

A cultural revolution November 2008
Poet and writer Andy Croft talks to Neil Astley, the founder and editor of Britain's most important poetry publisher, Bloodaxe Books, about putting the politics into poetry

Carrying on from the Chartists October 2008
Can poetry provide a means for change? Dave Toomer, Christina McAlpine and John G Hall, the editors of Citizen 32 magazine, believe it can. Here they explain the importance of combining poetry and activism The contemporary black American poet Amiri Baraka declared that ‘art should be used as a weapon of revolution’, and indeed poetry [...]

Three poems on peace and war July 2008
Poems by Adrian Mitchell

Poetic charge sheet January 2008
Tony Benn reviews Michael Horovitz's powerful new anti-war polemic