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Poetry

Poetry by Catholic writers, or that deals with subjects and themes of interest to Catholics.


The Birds of Gaza

Image ICN/JS

Waiting to join the March for Gaza in London last Saturday, I encountered a beautiful woman in front of the Albert Memorial. She held a baby in swaddling clothes under one arm, and with the other she was launching a dove of blue and gold, with a piercing golden eye. The beautiful woman was in fact a life-size picture. Alongside her was a line on which the children present had drawn birds. I was v... Read More


London: Hundreds attend evening of poetry for Palestine

Nandita Dowson

There was standing room only at Cafe Palestina in Kentish Town, north London on Friday, when the Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association, (CADFA) hosted an open mic evening of Poetry for Palestine. There were some wonderful contributions by poets of several different faiths and nationalities. An American Jewish writer, opened his powerful poem with: 'Soldiers on TikTok, dancing on death .... with gl... Read More


London: Poetry for Palestine

Poetry for Palestine takes place next Friday, 26th January at 6.30pm in Café Palestina, Kentish Town, north London. Organised by Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association, (Cadfa) there will be an Open Mic - bring a poem, song, other contribution The evening is a fundraiser for Medical Aid for Palestinians. - Entry by donation £5 minimum. Café Palestina is at 53 Fortess Road, NW5 1AD. Nearest tube... Read More


Poem: Let's Suppose

Image: ICN/JS

Let's suppose that the woman in the blue headscarf and dress, helped by her spouse, walks the dusty road - no donkey - rooms, inns and stables a mess Of rubble - to the hospital ruins - no crib and no bed - where, unto her, a son is born. Let's suppose that shepherds watch their fields and olive groves bulldozed, and quake at the bright sky flashes that break homes. They cannot pass through the hi... Read More


Roger McGough to read at Pact's London Advent Carol Service

Roger McGough. Wiki Image

Rogerr McGough, one of Britain's best-loved poets and presenter of BBC Radio's Poetry Please, will be reading some of his work at Pact's Advent Carol Service in London next. week. Roger has been a great friend to Pact. His poem 'Everything Touches' brought hope to people inside, as part of a Pact National Prison Radio programme during the pandemic. Rt Rev Richard Moth, Liaison Bishop for Prisons, ... Read More


Poem: At the school gate

Fr David O'Malley has published Charles Causley's powerful poem in his blog this week, reflecting on the start of the new school term. Timothy Winters comes to school With eyes as wide as a football-pool, Ears like bombs and teeth like splinters: A blitz of a boy is Timothy Winters. His belly is white, his neck is dark, And his hair is an exclamation-mark. His clothes are enough to scare a ... Read More


A Poem for All Souls Day

Photo by Yulia Gadalina on Unsplash

So what is heaven? In each year's eleventh month we ask: so what is heaven? (And on the eleventh day at the eleventh hour reply: An end to war, at least!) We ask this not abstractly but from the place of loss. Unlike the case of Christ, we don't proclaim the death of those we've loved to be the source of life; yet we profess their resurrection, too. The Afterlife is, as seen from here, an act of t... Read More


London: Joy and Justice Peace and Poetry!

Sarah de Nordwall

Come and enjoy the inspiration and refreshment that true tales and life enhancing poems can bring with a unique evening with Sarah de Nordwall and the company of bards at Farm Street Church this evening. Sarah has performed at the House of Lords and at venues from Transylvania to Pennsylvania and was the unofficial performance poet in residence at BBC Worldwide and winner of the Wild Words Poetry ... Read More


Poem: Breakfast In The Safety Of A War-Zone

Photo by Tim Foster on Unsplash

The radio crackles into life beneath my clumsy early morning thumb, bringing the latest from a basement under siege. As the kettle boils a plume of smoke rises in the distance, followed seconds later by the dull thud of the landing shell. The loose dry leaves cascade like shrapnel into the pre-warmed pot. The clatter of machine-guns punctuates my stirring of the brew. I reach the fridge door just... Read More


Poems For Ukraine: 'A Word In Edgeways'

Up and down the country all sorts of fundraising initiatives are taking place in response to the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the invasion of Ukraine. As his own contribution to efforts by his parishioners, Canon Rob Esdaile has put together a little volume of poems, titled, 'A Word In Edgeways'. This is his fifth collection, following '50:50', 'Renew, Refresh, Rejoice', 'Yes, Thanks!' and '... Read More


Poem: Song of the Child with Simeon

Simeon with the Christ Child in the Temple by Rembrandt

Song of the Child with Simeon Whose are those dimmed eyes I see? I feel safe, held well, By a warm, deep, growling voice. I cannot quite focus on this person, But I know he is about to be born- Not like I am now, but into a greater whole. Go well old man, Adieu! Go towards the Light! Read More


Mary in Our Hearts

"'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered. 'May your word to me be fulfilled.'" - Luke 1:38 I pray that we find it in our hearts to have faith like Mary. For Mary didn't understand how it could be that she, still a virgin, could bear a child. Yet she trusted and accepted the call proclaimed by Gabriel because she believed it was God's will for her. Mary must have known that she, pregnant and unw... Read More


Poem: Running Orders

Shejaiya residential neighbourhood after 2014 war on Gaza. Photo: Garry Walsh

They call us now, before they drop the bombs. The phone rings and someone who knows my first name calls and says in perfect Arabic "This is David." And in my stupor of sonic booms and glass-shattering symphonies still smashing around my head I think, Do I know any Davids in Gaza? They call us now to say Run. You have 58 seconds from the end of this message. Your house in next. They think of it as ... Read More


Poem by John Bradburne for Earth Day 2021

As we collectively celebrate Earth Day on the 22nd April 2021 in a unified response to an environmental crisis that we are all facing. We can look to the words in John Bradburne's poetry in the 1970's as being some of the first to notice this crisis. Let us try and make changes not only for our sakes and future generations, but for the nature, environment and saving and protecting the planet. Def... Read More

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