ALAN MORRISON recommends a consummate, heart-warming collection about a working-class upbringing in the industrial north-east
England, the Old People’s Home
My mother walks cold corridors, lost
underneath a mask. Bends to do her dirty work,
Picking up white people’s shit.
Not a metaphor, how she feels about this land,
but a turd left on the floor, her duty done with care
as another wreck of bones squats
to release his thoughts about the influx —
Why are there so many blacks?
The mask stops her from howling in response.
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ANDY CROFT welcomes the publication of an anthology of recent poems published by the Morning Star, and hopes it becomes an annual event
The Labour Party proposal to scrap benefits for those unable to work will be debated in Parliament next Tuesday, and threatens the most vulnerable in our society. ALAN MORRISON presents some responses in poetry
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by Maria Ferguson



