Sunday Review

We began the week a little short of submissions here at 'Poetry24' which circumstance gave me the perfect opportunity to pen and publish  'A Peasant's Revolt' a short piece in in support of Russell Brand who, in the aftermath of his television interview with Jeremy Paxman, seems to have become the celebrity equivalent of a red grouse on the dawn of the Glorious Twelfth. People have been waiting in line to take pot shots at Mr Brand and most of them have had something to say about his inability to offer a viable alternative as though this automatically debars him from commenting on the very obvious injustices that characterise the status quo. I am afraid I don't agree with this viewpoint. I disagree on the grounds that Mr Brand, who was not offering himself up as a political leader, had no need to come up with a viable alternative and state it in a brief TV interview. Rather, it seems to me that what he set out to do - and what he achieved with admirable passion and conviction - was to give expression to the very real anger felt by those at the bottom of the social pile, many of them vilified and demonised by this government. On this subject, then, I make no apology. Nuff said.

On Tuesday we published 'Violin' by David Subacchi, a response to the sale by auction of the Titanic violin, an instrument that was 'Too sad to be endured' and was therefore 'condemned / To decades of silence / In a dusty attic'. Like many others, I have a fascination for all the thousands of human stories that surround this catastrophe; and, indeed, my grandmother had a cousin who went down with the ship; so, for me, David's poem was especially plaintive and haunting. I found it suggestive of the dying notes 'Abide With Me', a hymn which I cannot hear without an accompanying shiver. 

There were nothing at all to put up on Wednesday so The Bears put out a special plea for submissions and were rewarded by Philip Johnson's 'Tears at the Chapel Royal' .  Philip is a regular here at Poetry24 and, quite apart from being grateful for his prompt response, I have to say that I love the sparse simplicity of these lines: 'in a box / the forgotten heir / winters / without light'. Thank you, Philip. You're a star.

On Thursday, it was back to me.  I put up 'dangerous truth' because I felt it was immensely important that this story, about 'the Kabul women's poetry club' did not pass unnoticed.  On Friday, though, it was the turn of Darrell Petska with 'Zombie Antidote', a piece which besides being delightfully appropriate to the season, is also intensely thought-provoking. My favourite line?  It has to be 'imaginative minds repel zombie teeth'.

Well, that's it from me. Hamish will be back with you next Sunday. Please keep those submissions coming in and please tell your friends. Much as we love our regulars, we welcome new contributors. :-)

Abi Wyatt