I couldn’t go into John Lewis. Not from that door. The door fromthe Square, Cavendish Square. It was the menswear that did it.Scarves. Hankies. That sweater you liked and the blue shirt. No matterthe…Read more…
Pandemics have their own music…
We clapped outside our doorplayed violins on the balconyclattered pots and panssymbols of resistancewhile our hearts broketo the sound of sirens. By Joy Johnson, Unite political department
The post…Read more…
Self portrait
Out of CaravaggioVengeful son of the citygracing church wallssubverting sacred allusion.Came Caravaggio Out of the canvasscame a revolutionary.By his own handwith his own struggles.A spectator…Read more…
UniteLive’s stories of the year – From a Mural a Monument
Every day for the ‘twelve days of Christmas’ this year, UniteLive is running a different story from our top stories of 2021. Today we look back at a poignant poem from Unite’s Joy Johnson, who…Read more…
Who will listen to my heart now?
Heads down. Hushed voices.Coughs and sneezes.Old Magazines.Women’s Own, Women’s Weekly.Flipping pages in the surgery. Your call is valuable to us.Please hold.Verdi’s Hebrew Slaves’ Chorusfilling the…Read more…
Our Streets
With flowers for a vigil and a sombre tone
women gathered to pay their respects.
Why couldn’t she have been left alone?
The post Our Streets appeared first on UNITElive.org.Read more…
Have compassion for the unhappy
Stretch out a hand but
don’t clasp. Seize what’s left
on the floor
against the door.
The post Have compassion for the unhappy appeared first on UNITElive.org.Read more…
A sightseer in Beirut
In the morning the vast inspiring
Al Amin Mosque.
Heads covered feet bare.
Under the chandeliers
our whispered voices
echoes of centuries.
The post A sightseer in Beirut appeared first on…Read more…
When
Do you remember when
the phone plugged into the wall
had its own table in the hall?
The post When appeared first on UNITElive.org.Read more…
Values
For ten years they starved us cut doctors and nurses who treated us devalued social workers who cared for us bosses mocked and taunted us you work with us not for us self employment became…Read more…
Joe
An old geezer down our boozer He says his name is Joe. The numbers on his arm explain A life of pain and woe. Someone said he was German – Or he might have been a Pole Who as a child saw the…Read more…
‘When’
Do you remember when the phone plugged into the wall had its own table in the hall? When the dial had letters as well as numbers? Were you one of those who liked mystery and went ex-directory? …Read more…
Death of a Piper
The following poem was written by John Fyvie, a Piper Alpha survivor. It was recited by Unite regional officer Tommy Campbell at this week’s Reflections on Piper Alpha conference in Aberdeen….Read more…
Brothers
Sound waves reverberated. Nation states rewarded an explosion of celebration. Medals awarded. Flags seized. Hugged around. Olympians fell and kissed the ground An explosion of…Read more…