The imagination dies first
As it is the one unarmed,
The satisfaction thirst
Goes next, causing great harm.
The energy is extinguished
As one brings out the dead
The praying undistinguished
As the bleeding soaks each bed.
The crying is illuminated
As the planes soar overhead
The bombing appears dated,
But in ash humanity is levelled.
The consumer nation is uncovered
As America sells the ultimate;
The Mushrooms are unfettered
As hate follows the last advert.
Don’t give me your sharp swords
For I’ll find the blunt end only
Don’t speak to me of the next life
For I’ll find the deaf ears of convenience.
Don’t sit with my bleeding conscience
For I’ll find the nearest crying rock
Don’t crowd me with your crazy politics
For I’ll find every dead word full of worms
Don’t lie to me with your words of wisdom
For I‘ll find every excuse to lie down and die.
Don’t hear me when I bleed into the sky
For I’ll bandage your eyes so you can’t find me
Don’t wear phrases of death and coldness
For I’ll find the heat controls of boldness.
Don’t skim my head with your razor eyes
For I’ll find a shelter from your cool looks
Don’t burn me with your hatred filled books
For I’ll find the sharpness wearing a smile.
Don’t give me your axes, knives and bullets
For I’ll find, for you, your God has left forever.
Lose my head in the crowding noises
Give my heart the lance of hypocrisies
Lend the meat of dancing to the mad spies
Expend my words on the wriggling excuses.
Die Die the burning reasons where no one really dies,
Go to the wall where no one really hears the cries
Sink the vision where hell shouts hello hello
Avoid the speeding train that speedily arrives.
II
No one stands, everyone lies down
The increasing winds, write their own end
In the eyes of hurricanes, the laughter sings
My electric energies dance slower and slower.
Go to the far side of daylight
Bring the fire of life to a new height
For my list has melted fast
The gulls in my head won’t be last.
Benjamin Zephaniah: The Poet of the People
Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah was born into a working-class Jamaican family in the Handsworth district of Birmingham. His upbringing in a vibrant, multicultural community profoundly influenced his worldview and literary voice. The experiences of racism, poverty, police brutality, and economic inequality in his youth became central themes in his work, driving his commitment to social justice and community empowerment.
for more go here – https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/poets-corner/benjamin-zephaniah-the-poet-of-the-people/
They sallied forth in parallel lines
Their bleating dying in the midnight air
The escaping of men, marching in rigid time
From domestic chores to be there,
Falklands bound with the crowing
Of journalistic banter in their ears,
The armies at least released into warring
“Give ‘em a bloody nose and thick ear”
Smutty jokes and puking nervous boys
Given their orders as if holidaying in Spain,
The forces of politically directed toys
Entering the final bloody stage.
Reputations intact
Motivations react
The Falklands folly
Was a sorry tale
The architect is woman bound
Who only wanted her job returned.
Survivors and veterans in fact
The lonely widowed wives
Counting out time
Counting the lives
The Merry Warring song.
Here’s how the chancellor can raise the billions needed to improve the quality of life of millions
Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward.
Prem states: “Minister Andy Burnham faces a difficult task in changing the UK’s economic fortunes. The decline is due to the obsession with neoliberalism, which has failed to improve the quality of life for millions. Chancellor John Healey’s first budget offers a chance to improve the purchasing power of the bottom 50% of the population, which in turn will increase people’s disposable incomes, invigorate local economy and fuel economic growth.”
for more go to – https://leftfootforward.org/2026/09/heres-how-the-chancellor-can-raise-the-billions-needed-to-improve-the-quality-of-life-of-millions/
Here’s how the chancellor can raise the billions needed to improve the quality of life of millions
Hi I am Pete Hard Bard Wakeham and I run this website, that majors on poetry, mine and those of other poets I like, rock bands I have seen live in the early 1970’s.
