Ee By Gum

Ee by gum, what will become

Of ISIS mum, Shamima Begum

She pleads ...

I was only fifteen young and naive

When I packed up my bags and decided to leave

But as it turns out I was tricked and deceived

By ISIS propaganda and glossy make believe

I had a good time in Syria but lately it's rough

So I want to come home now cos I've had enough

I'd appreciate some sympathy as I've had it tough

Please come get me, my baby, my baggage and stuff

The Kurdish don't want me nor do the Dutch

The Bangladeshis have not yet been in touch

All I have are these straws at which I clutch

Cos I'm certain the Brits don't like me that much

In fact I'm fairly sure that I am despised

On account of the fact that I'm radicalised

And thought the Ariana Grande atrocity was justified

You know a tooth for tooth and an eye for an eye

Ee by gum, what will become

Of Isis Mum Shamima Begum

© John Mcdonough

Shamima Begum: 'We should live in Holland' says IS husband

John has been writing poetry for 30 years. His style is urban/performance poetry. He subtitles his spoken word for the benefit of the hard of hearing and those that struggle with dialect, John's is Mancunian.

Targets

People are stupid,

and act in a way

that shouldn’t be sanctioned

or allowed go astray,

but putting up targets

of young womens’ faces

brings down our ethics

and brings us to places

where I would rather not be.

If you condemn them 

as wrong,

you cannot take actions

that would really belong

in the faction you claim to oppose.

She may have supported

and been the young wife

of a terrorist fighter,

who wrongly took life,

but then don’t do the things that he did.

We’re meant to be better,

we treat them as evil...

then go and act

like we’re still medieval.

Shame on them.

Shame on us.

© Andrew Goodison

Shooting range criticised after putting up target with face of Shamima Begum

Andrew Goodison is a single father of two, full time carer and full time poet, living in the West of Ireland.

jihadi bride

because it was war

and she a child perplexed 

by the suffocations of home

groomed betrothed and taken up

as a bride of the prophet

to be the advance reward 

of the martyr’s promise

for martyrdom for sacrifice

for men made from boys

because it was war

because it was holy

and she a blessing in disguise

she bore witness to horror 

and bore children

from death into death

because it was holy

because of faith

in the face of infidelity

and the profanity of unbelievers

for faith denied and faith abandoned

retribution plunged its blade

munitions exploded

blood was let

because of faith

because the blade

that cuts one heart

cuts all hearts

the child soldier and his doxy bride

all the collateral flesh and bone

every by-stander and every innocent

cut down in crossfires

enemies in name only

beheaded into waste-bins

summarily executed

blood on the sand

sand in the blood

water tears and weeping 

witness made blind

because the blade

because she regrets

a child with child corpses

to remember for her sins

she remembers home but home

forgets the child she was

will not even prosecute 

her juvenile delinquency

death to the infidel

she is dispossessed

because she regrets

© Brian Hill

Shamima Begum says she regrets publicising desire to return to UK

Brian has been 50 years a poet. One-time designer and film-maker; long ago, the rhyme-slinger, cartoon cowboy, and planetarium poet; now feverishly stringing words together in the hope of making sense.