When we put out the call for the Grassroots issue, we hoped for poems from the heart – poems filled with passion, purpose and dealing with themes or ideas that need to be shared. The range of poems, diverse forms and sheer number from all over the world revealed that poets and politics grow intertwined from the same root. But at the same time, all the poems we were drawn to are intensely personal. As a reader, you might or might not agree with the cause, but we hope you agree that the poetry is compelling.
Grassroots and community go hand-in-hand. Many poets meet through collectives or groups that may be attached to a venue – often under threat from developers or rent hikes. The Torriano Meeting House in Kentish Town, London is one such venue and it celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. As editors we both owe it a lot: we were at this venue when the dearly missed Gboyega Odubanjo first met Joe Carrick-Varty when they were invited to read at the regular Sunday evening poetry event. They went on to form a deep friendship and to co-edit bath magg. These are how grassroot venues foster connections and Joe and Raymond Antrobus share their thoughts on the meaning of community and their friendship with Gboyega in a moving email exchange. For our Inspired feature, Amy Acre, an amazing force in the poetry community, who runs Bad Betty Press responds to Vietnamese poet and novelist, Hiền Trang’s A Poet-Shark, exploring how poetry is a playground; “A serious, childish pleasure – a kind of return to grassroots.”
Amy’s friendship with Gboyega, as often happens with grassroots poetry, extended into collaboration. Gboyega was published by Bad Betty Press and then went on to mentor, nurture and help edit other poets’ pamphlets for the press. This is the level of support we hope for to nurture talent, so it can bloom and flourish.
As LiLi K Bright wrote in their article, grassroots groups – in their case eco/queer/global majority groups – helped them to discover, explore and shape their limits and boundaries as a queer artist, writer, facilitator; and these groups sustained them in times of need with rich resources and emotional support.
They quote the book The New Saints by Lama Rod Owens who says:
“We each struggle individually to experience wellness. Living isn’t easy.” […]but “community” can give us “the necessary resources we need to survive.”
At a time when the right to protest is under scrutiny and under attack, the Grassroots issue brings you poems that resist and insist, that reinvigorate the language, and thereby the debate. When language falters or fails us, when we cannot express our grassroots in the ‘poetry playground’, as Amy says, then we risk becoming victims to tired and repressive narratives designed to sap our truth and our fight.
When we made the call for submissions, we asked: ‘At a time of unprecedented global turmoil where our political elites struggle to deal with the pressing issues of the day – climate change, ongoing wars, and social inequalities – where are your grassroots?’
We received poems that answered all of these questions and more, and we feel honoured to bring you this issue in the face of continuing global turmoil; but as poet, Russell Nichols, says in his poem, Word Up, “in the beginning was the word, and the word is you.”
Over to you.
Lisa Kelly, Patrizia Longhitano
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From Magma 89, Grassroots
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