Category: Campaigns

  • A Celebration of Women’s Poetry for International Women’s Day 2013, poems for Malala Yousafzai

    Poem for Malala To Malala Yousafzai. We see it all. All of it. The red-stain, the shame. We do not feel the skull-shatter-impact, the moveable plate – the tube, the tubes. The blood-bags. The bags of blood, the urine. Your eye, the eye-blood that occludes your vision. Red filters down, lowering them to the ground.…

  • ‘Pussy-Riot Forever : The Body’ by Philo Ikonya and Helmuth A. Niederle

    Pussy-Riot Forever : The Body   I riot, You riot, We riot.   The body riots.   Arterial riot Breast riot Cheek riot Eye riot Finger riot Gall bladder riot Intestine riot Jaw riot Knee riot Liver riot Mouth riot Nose riot Prick riot Palate riot   Riot in Queues   Renal riot Stomach riot Testes…

  • Catechism; a reading for Pussy Riot in Dublin

    Poets across the UK and Ireland come together to mark the nine-month anniversary of Pussy Riot’s performance in a Moscow Cathedral by reading from Catechism: Poems for Pussy Riot, English PEN’s anthology for the group. This link gives the list of locations and readings in the U.K and Ireland. Ireland’s readings are organised by Christodoulos Makris &…

  • ‘I’ve got the Fukushima Blues’, by Glenda Cimino

    Even though it’s not in the news, I’ve got the Fukushima Blues. Strontium 90 on the grass, Iodine 131, cesium, plutonium – Cow’s milk is poisoned in your glass, But don’t tell- there’d be pandemonium! Three reactors in meltdown, Tepco now confess But where the radioactive water’s gone, Is anybody’s guess. Even though they say I have…

  • Protected: Link to the Petition to ‘Stop SOPA Ireland’

    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

  • WordPress release on SOPA and PIPA

    I am adding here both excerpt and full link to the WordPress appeal to Help Stop SOPA/PIPA. Many people use the WordPress brand from design-level through to hosting. I have used it since 2006 in numerous ways including being part of a group blog, personal blogs and with PEN. The question has to be about…

  • ‘Yes, Minister’ a poem by John Walsh

    While brushing my teeth I stop to think of the Minister’s words and I feel how lucky we are indeed to have a Green Minister like him to tell us not to be wasting water running it while brushing our teeth. And I wonder if he’s noticed that it’s been pissing the rain for weeks…

  • A Turn at Tara , August 28th 2011.

      FEIS TEAMHRA: A TURN AT TARA  “The fourth annual Feis Teamhra: A Turn at Tara, which features readings and performances by internationally recognized Irish writers and musicians, will be held between 3 and 5 o’clock on Sunday August 28 2011 on the Hill of Tara itself. Those taking part this year are Aidan Brennan, Peter Fallon, Laoise…

  • PEN International Endorses Irish PEN Centre’s Campaign Against Ireland’s Blasphemy Laws

    27 April 2011 : from  The Irish PEN website ” PEN International strongly supports the repeal of Ireland’s Defamation Act of 2009 and an amendment to the Irish Constitution‘s requirement that blasphemy be prohibited under Irish law. PEN is an organization whose members pledge to promote good understanding and mutual respect between nations and to…

  • Dispossessions: News of the Fightback against Poetry Cuts in the ACE 2011.

    This morning it is reported that nine poets  are disputing the Arts Council cuts in England. Poetry is an encounter, and always surprising, so I am adding in here the links and reports on what is (imo) a most utilitarian and pedestrian set of decisions regarding funding cuts across the water. Nine leading poets call for ACE rethink on PBS cut.   From…