Author: joeholtaway

The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of people, the right of every human being to liberty and well-being. Emma Goldman My new Poetry page/Continuing Lockdown recordings and relaxations with Insight Timer and protest art and a little bit of new song 'This Skin' [...]

https://soundcloud.com/joe_holtaway/whm/s-IkLqCs42C7e In 1970 a month was proposed, put aside to try once,to look at Black HistoryBlack History Month 1/12, 8.3% of a year agreed by someThey thought, a starting point to grow from… In 2020 is it still something?Or is that something worse than nothingwhen nothing is no acknowledgment of colonialism? This skin scared of [...]

https://soundcloud.com/joe_holtaway/so-around-4/s-dKR4TwYmmIW For my Grandmother Seeds a softening shoot to stema sapling from the groundBranch to bud and light to leafwill grow gracefully bound And we know that fruit from flower flourishfalls and so around All that came again remains and future form is found

https://soundcloud.com/joe_holtaway/theres-a-young-man-crying-in-the-church-yard/s-6hd9ry0HdpH (A poem from the foodbank, set up by Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers during the Corona lockdown) There’s a young man crying in the churchyard.Separated from family and friendsI’m kneeling beside himHe feels lonely and frustrated depending on the Home Office* to meet his needs. Afraid to return home due to persecution for [...]

https://soundcloud.com/joe_holtaway/friday-morning-by-the-bridge/s-sXf1KAbX8RJ (NHS protest calling for PPE- personal protective equipment, following my reading of this article about NHS workers who were silenced over the shortage) The morning sun lights the river from 90 million miles awayI sit with my back to the bridge,from yesterday’s project paint on my finger tips.We have wordsI chose some for a [...]

https://soundcloud.com/joe_holtaway/before-the-bullets/s-qYDJjOrU7Dh (photo from banner making workshop at Amnesty International preparing for Stop The War arms fair protest 2019, possibly back in London in 2021) Taken from the ground to serve a purpose,not decoration, a broach or pin, no,nor coins or keys or rings.No, this metal was taken, compounded and formed in a mould to be [...]

https://soundcloud.com/joe_holtaway/we-wil-remember/s-tyDyjTrY3KM (A piece of protest at/memorial wall. All these people depicted and remembered all died while in interactions with the police. Following the killing of George Floyd and the BLM protest movements, my friend and I did this using chalk paints. Using chalk paints is not a chargeable offence and in my experience much less [...]