Blog - Literature
The Challenge; Uncertain Haikus
May 13, 2021 - by Richard DownesAugust 2019. Brexit. Remain, Leave. Will there be an election/a referendum. Nuclear war between Pakistan and India? Trump and Johnson. Racists/racists? Extinction Rebellion. How long do we have to live? The challenge for the September meeting of the Highgate Society Poetry Group is simply What Next? A poem for uncertain times. All these big issues. I am walking ...
Hell on the NHS
May 11, 2021 - by Dolly SenIt's not news to people that mental health systems are underfunded and barely hanging on. What a lot of people don't know, unless they have been in it or follow artists like me, is that the ideology behind the mental health system is under the surface about coercion, control, and ...
Acorn; Day and Night
May 7, 2021 - by Richard DownesThe first two lines here are as how I remember Yoko Ono’s Earth Piece V. Her instruction must have been positive but I’m inclined some times to the negative. Today is 31st July 2019. Boris Johnson has been PM for a week. Elected by the Tories not the people. His ...
Walls. Fences, Bridges
May 3, 2021 - by Richard DownesAsk anyone. I photograph trees. Less well known I photograph walls and fences. They fascinate me. Make me question. I built my own walls. I lived inside fences. I stepped outside both into new worlds by mending bridges. Walls. Fences, BridgesWalls. What are they there forTo keep in or keep outTo make a ...
We need to talk about protecting women
May 1, 2021 - by Letty McHughWith everything that's been going on over the last month I've been thinking about the shit women are just expected to deal with. I've been thinking a lot about the low levels of sexual harassment that are normalised in our society and how corrosive it is for the women. I'm ...
The Liz Bentley Delivery Woman with Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans
April 30, 2021 - by Liz BentleyThis is the first of my new blog ‘The Liz Bentley Delivery Woman’. I’d been wracking my brains with what to do after ‘Liz Bentley waiting for the Tesco Delivery Man’ and then it became obvious. I write about my own experience anyway, so why not just admit that the ...
Birdsong from Inobservable Worlds
April 23, 2021 - by Dolly SenI am thrilled to be one of the recipients of the latest Unlimited awards, partnering with the Wellcome Trust. I saw the shortlist of the amazing projects of other artists and feel lucky I was chosen. I must thank my lovely producer Caroline Cardus for her hard work putting ...
Pick Up. Pick Up.
April 21, 2021 - by Richard Downes642; Pick UpApparently, I’m driving around looking for somewhere to park mate’s truck whilst also sucking up my pride. Pick Up. Pick Up.Pick Up. Pick Up.Me and the phoneDriving roundHands freeMaking contactWith a memoryOf you and meThe way we’d beTogetherPick Up Pick UpThe dog and boneI’m near homeNot farMaybe we’ll ...
Green Shoots Not Going Bang
April 15, 2021 - by Richard DownesWhistling Jack, Whispering Jake, Whispering Jack, Whistling Jake. The character changes his name but his character stays the same or does it? For four years I have laboured on holiday with poetry for Whistling Jake (or whatever his name is). He started life as a campsite intrusion; became a psychopath and ...
Going in search of Frank Bangay
April 8, 2021 - by Colin HambrookWith thanks to George Tahta for the title of this blog One of the hardest things about lockdown and the whole crisis we’ve been going through has been the number of deaths we’ve had to face without access to a funeral or the chance to say goodbye. It’s the unreality of ...