Tuesday, 30 September 2014
poets for change - Cellar bards - watch out theirs a teifidancer about
Here's the cellar bards and friends reading out their poems on the theme of change in Cardigan West Wales UK at 4pm Saturday September 27th 2014 on the Quay on the banks of the Teifi. Oh and a rare look at teifidancer out in the wild.
Monday, 29 September 2014
Dannie Abse - Poet Doctor R.I.P (22/9/23 - 28/9/14)
' The human race is the only one that knows it must die and it knows this only through its experience. A child bought up alone and transported to a desert island would have no more idea of death than a cat or a plant .' - Voltaire
It is with sadness that I have heard of the passing of poet, playwright, doctor and novelist Dannie Abse at the age of 91.
Born and bought up in Cardiff, he drew on his career as a doctor, his Welsh roots and his proud jewish inheritance to establish himself as one of Britains most popular poets. Many of his themes were international in outlook, combining elements of loss, love, the passing of time, his rich medical understanding and its moral implications. This gave him a compassion for the suffering of the world. His awareness and humanity gave him a conscious awareness.
The brother of Labour M.P Leo Abse, much of his life was spent in loving devotion with his wife, Joan who tragically died in a car accident in 2005, and like many of us he struggled to deal with his grief, but managed to write elonquently a lovely collection called the 'the Presence' which won the Welsh book of the year award in 2008.
His two autobiographies 'Ash on a Young Man's sleeve' and 'Poet in the Family' are now rightly considered to be classics. I recognised his account of his medical training through my own fathers who was to become a G.P. Alongside a deep understanding of the world, ran an overwhelming sense of humour, awash with an experience of thought.. Like Dannie Abse I also undersood some of his themes of exile, he moving from Cardiff to London and personally me having at a very young age moved from Cardiff to here in West Wales.
There is a richness at the heart of his work that I will forever cherish, which I also know will continue to endure.I have been fortunate to hear him read on a few memorable occassions.
He died surrounded by his family after a short illness. The Welsh nation and the world has lost a truly great poet of real conviction.
Dannie Abse R.I.P
from Anniversary
' What happens to a flame blown out?
What persists? Only the view,
never my my magified hand in yours.'
Dannie Abse - A Simple tribute
Dannie Abse reading poems for Oxfam
Sunday, 28 September 2014
Specks of hope
Yesterday I was one of thousands of poets around the world who participated in 100-Thousands Poets for Change day. I took part in a reading organised by my local live literature group, the cellar bards, in conjunction with our local community bookshop, Leafed Through in an event that took place between 4 pm and 5pm, at Prince Charles Quay here in Cardigan, West Wales.In an inspiring event we gathered to celebrate and promote peace and sustainability and call for much needed serious social environmental and political change with poems written on postcards. It was good to be involved in something so positive, with hundreds of cities representing and over 100 countries signed up to the 100 TPC global initiative.More details here :- http://100TPC.org
The poem I read is included below.
Specks of hope
With this pen
no walls are drawn,
unity's breath spins
cancels out division,
solidarity's comfort lifts
and a strong flame burns,
showering the earth with reason
releasing leaves of hope,
gently painting the sky
in rivers of language,
opposing injustice
in whirling devotion,
planting smiles on an ugly world
spreading seeds of peace.
Friday, 26 September 2014
Why the UK parliament should say no to bombing Iraq
David Cameron will ask MPs in the UK parliament to vote to join the US bombing campaign against Iraq, Chris Nineham from Stop the War coalition, interviewed by the BBC on 24 September 2014, asks, has nothing been learnt from the disasters of wetern inttervention in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. He urges MPs to vote no, like they did last year, when Cameron wanted a bombing campaign against Syria. To save lives and protect human rights the genocidal fundamentalists of Isis must be stopped, whose barbarity shows no limits but surely there are other ways. Do we repeat past mistakes, do we all become complicit in the end. Ultimately war is not civilised, war is failure.
There are no easy answers. But there is this certainty, killing people rarely kills peoples ideas.
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
The illusion of choice
I am sharing it because I believe it is important for you to be aware of who is supplying the different brands and goods served on your dinner table.
Click to enlarge it shows that most products we buy are controlled by just a few companies. Despite a wide array of brands to choose from, it all comes back to the big guys.Ten mega corporations control the output of almost everything you buy; from household products to pet food to jeans. These corporations create an illusion of choice, a chain that begins at one of 10 super companies. Lets not forget that 90% of the media is now controlled by just six companies, down from 50 in 1983. Yes it is indeed a funny old world. Daily now I continue to consume and use social media platforms run by globalists like Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc but be switching off in bit and heading back to the garden, But Globalisation is just another word for monopolisation. Do we actually have a choice in choosing , or is it just the case of free market capitalism destroying any real sense of freedom?
Monday, 22 September 2014
Stand up for the Earth - Gary Snyder( b 8/5/30) on Ecology and Poetry Parts 1-4
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Because of this I feel, we cannot fail to ignore the urgent issues that Mr Snyder brings up. We must keep working together to put an end to the destruction of the Earth by forces of human greed and ignorance, and remember too the devastating effects of capitalism upon nature.
Sunday, 21 September 2014
Threads
Standing together
threads unwrapped,
impenetratable, not complicit
we remember innocents lost
to remote controlled killing machines,
from within sources of passion woven
richness of colour, keep us dreaming
stitches of time, spinning,
searching clearly for waves of hope.
As winter grows near
something already is being changed,
tomorrow will be time, for light to shine
together tracing unity's breath,
touching horizons. North, South, East and West
from this place, like singing birds
faith is restored, love rekindled,
as voices float freely through the sky,
we continue following paths of heddwch, peace.
wonder who this could be
Saturday, 20 September 2014
Sad... no not really
Well I have not slept for a couple of days, better then, than the other week, in South Wales when I only managed in a week to get about an hour a day shut eye. And oh that reminds me, the last time I put on the television left me feeling a tad miserable. Yet despite this, and what they are saying, there has been a huge vote for independence, despite media manipulation a large percentance of the population of Scotland rejected the corrupt undemocratic Westminster system in an unprecedented number.
So though very tired, had a sublime night of dub music by the magical Maya Mitten down in my local, the cellar bar, I remain faithfully optimistic for the future. I think that with creativity and diversity we can create a brighter future, beyond the neoliberal consensus and bullshit, that says no to cuts and austerity, to nuclear missiles, yes to the N.H.S, together we reject political parties that offer us no choice, so wee keep on fighting for some real change, and will not rest until, the day comes, that we will win.
Thursday, 18 September 2014
Give the Tories a benefit cut they will never forget.
Some final thoughts. The establishment is running scared, the government, big business and the banks have bought out their big guns to try to scare the Scottish people, but its inhabitants seem to be wide awake, despite the propaganda being spewed against them, they have been taking to the streets, organising, winning hearts and minds. I really hope they have not left it too late, and that they are brave enough to kick Westminster in the guts and win their freedom, and that they remind the rest of us , that it is ok not to be complacent.
We need to remember that the Tory government has no mandate, was not voted in, least of all the Lib Dems, who are have been propping them up, a government still fixed on austerity whilst lining their own pockets and that of their friends. So I really hope David Cameron gets a big message - Fuck off now. I really hope these seeds of discontentment grow and the hope for a fairer more caring and prosperous society spreads like a virus, reflecting a growing disillusionment with Westminster led policies, a river of change that leaves the status quo shaking in its boots. A yes vote on Scottish independence would plunge Cameron into a leadership crisis that could force him to quit. It's up to the rest of us to finish the job.
Wednesday, 17 September 2014
Yes/Meh ( some thoughts on the Scottish referendum)
David Cameron thought he was being clever when he forced Scotland to take a straight yes or no vote in laving the union. But smugness is his middle name and this could be the most political gamble of his whole tawdry career..
With a day to go, he seems to be panicking as the vote looks as if it could go either way. Lets remember this vote is not about nationalism, it is about redressing some balance. It is about a nation that has been violently supressed, a working class that has been binded in chains, that has been ripe in exploitation and oppression. This for many is now being seen as a vote against the Conservatives and their friends who have for years mismanaged Scotland's economy. The same Conservatives who in Scotland are more reviled than since the days of Thatcher, who many blame for the poverty that wreaks daily misery on peoples lives.
It would not be heartbreaking if the people of Scotland chose a new beginning, it would just be part of a journey of recovery that often people need to take. If not taken now it could be centuries before the opportunity arose again. It is interesting how his so called opposition both the Labour Party and Liberal democrats leaders joining Cameron in calling for a no vote, see how much these abusers of power have so much in common.
Whatever the outcome Salmod as leader of the SNP finds himself in a win win position, even if he loses his vote Scotland could be granted new powers, but a no vote would leave Scotlands hands tied, when like all small nations what is needed is their absolute freedom. I personally as a Welshman have never seen myself as being part of the UK, I also reject the class system that this institution is based on, believe no borders are actually necessary that power needs to be given back to the people, we need to say no to sham democracy, yes to more equality, more autonomy.
I like the fact that the yes vote has garnered new strengths of feeling, a kind of anti-capitalist rhetoric, bravely dancing towards a future, not dancing to the intruments of division that has kept many people downtrodden in yesterdays memories. A fight for a different society, a fight for fairness and social justice, a struggle that could in the end inspire us all. A new future that sets a template about how our different wealth is shared.
New hopes where imagination is recaptured, dreams are nurtured, a different form of society is experimented with, for the good of all. Sadly the fact remains that like all governments, a future independent Scotland will nor be able to maintain the promises that is is making, it might be unable to share its wealth, protect the NHS, like other governments, will seek to attack the unemployed, the disabled, outsiders, night get stuck in the narrow contstraints of nationalism, but in the end like any new democracies, opposition to its policies will still be encouraged. It's gotta be better than the template already in place, some say I'm a dreamer, but I am not the only one, and in all my hopes I really do like the idea of Cameron and his coherts getting a real good kicking, and I support a new society that arises that creates new possibilities, against the stagnation of the present system in place, a new era of radical change.
The Westminster government tells us we must keep a 70 year old weapons system called Trident, operating from the West Coast Of Scotland, and Independence threatens this, but they don't say is that there are millions of pounds worth of oil and gas reserves here too, and that by removing Trident these fields become more viable for the economic prosperity of Scotland as a whole, that could see it becomming one of the richest economies on the planet.
I truly wish more people were taking a stand and challenging the notions of the British state. A new politics that everyone is not afraid to engage with, that excites, and does not forget the power of the individual.more power to the people. The powerful do not want to see anymore change, but the people daily are increasingly restless., and with collective pressures for social, economic and political change, surely that can only be a good thing. Yes or No, we need people to keep pushing for a more caring society, some radical change, otherwise the status quo just sits back and smiles, carries on beating us, this political consensus and our compliance I believe needs to be shattered, for the sake of us all.Voting does not change thing, many of my friends say, but critical support for an independent Scotland is better than no change at all. This celtic cousin is holding his breath , hoping for something that changes our political landscape forever, whatever the outcome, the way the UK is governed will never be the same again, and the voters decisions in Scotland, whether they vote or not will have a lasting impact on our lives here in West Wales too.
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