Please excuse the woollens and flat cap farmer vibes and lend an ear to a sunset reading of While Justice Waits by Salena Godden. I first read this poem in the Forward Book of Poetry 2024, but it can be found among its pals in Salena’s crazy-good book Pessimism is for Lightweights. There are poems written for the women's march, poems that salute peaceful protest, poems on sexism and racism, class discrimination, poverty and homelessness, immigration and identity, and they are all shot through with the gusto, grin and gut punch that makes Salena Godden such an essential read and listen. You can hear her do it herself right here on YouTube and please do buy her books and dig in to all that is available online. She is absolutely part of the reason I tumbled into the early morning routine detailed in my longform piece To Notice is to Make Believe, though at 05:30 I was a solid and slovenly 1.5 hours later than Salena was posting from her #4amwritingclub. You can have a gander at that below, and below that you can see an extract of the poem I read, and what a beast it is. It shines a light and points an accusatory finger at the unnamed yet obvious ghouls in charge whilst tipping its hat to those we love and have lost. It carries its weight so well and in reading it I felt the words help me to do the same. Beautiful.
To Notice is to Make Believe
If I’m a storyteller it’s because I listen. - John Berger. I’m writing this (at least starting it…) at 5:30 am. My notebook is candle-lit and I’m supping coffee that I left in a flask on my desk. I’ve done some reading and jotted in my journal to set out what’s most important to me, what I’m grateful for and what quality I’m going to carry through the d…
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