Some Songs I Have Enjoyed Recently

Here are some songs I have been enjoying recently. You might like them too - check them out. (NB Not all of them are child-friendly.)

The Wedding Present - Dare

Laurence Owen - A Moment of Your Time

Jay Munly - The Denver Boot

Slim Cessna's Auto Club - This is How They Do Things in the Country

Stick in the Wheel - Follow Them True

The Lillingtons - The Russians Are Coming

The Replacements - Kids Don't Follow

Fjokra - Bang on the Door

The Dunts - Dimitri

Hopsin - I Need Help

Big Herk - Trap Goin Ham

Giggs - Look What The Cat Dragged In

Striblo - On Road

Ewan Maccoll - Go Down Ye Murderer 

Nekromatix - Struck By a Wrecking Ball 

I RECEIVED SOME 'FAN MAIL'

I am delighted and honoured to receive the following piece of 'fan mail', which a teacher took the trouble to email to me yesterday. What makes this a lovely surprise is that I have never visited this pupil's school; she simply read my book and thought I was worth writing to! Makes it all worthwhile.

COUNTDOWN POEMS - celebrating 'space week'

This week sees the launch of the world most powerful rocket. I don't know whether this is coincidental or not, but I have been working with a couple of schools lately that have been celebrating 'space week'. With this in mind, I'd like to share with you a quick, simple poetry idea. Using the structure of the famous rocket launch 'countdown', imagine what other things might be counted down to. The following poem is entitle 'countdown to holiday'.

Countdown to Holiday

10

pack suitcases into car

9

cram it in very tight

8

mum! mum! I need a wee!

7

I want to go in the middle!

No, I want to go in the middle!

6

I forgot my teddy!

5

get in the car

4

wait! I need another wee!

3

that's better

2

ready everyone? Strap in!

1

Devon here we come!

0

starts to rain

what other countdown ideas can you think of? Here are a few to get you started:

- jumping in the swimming pool

- getting ready for school

- eating a disgusting piece of food

- waiting for a birthday present

INSPIRATIONAL POEM BY YEAR 7 STUDENT

Yesterday I worked with a group of Year 7 students at Plashet Schoool, where we wrote poems exploring their perceptions of British identity. Using Benjamin Zephaniah's poems 'The British' and 'Neighbours' as inspiration, the students thought about the ways in which 'Britishness' forms their own identity (or not). I'd like to share the following amazing poem, which was produced during the sessions

Poem by Fatima

I am the type of person
who haunts you in your sleep.
Black and Muslim -
how much worse can you get.

I appear in front of doors
I watch you in your bed
I swing with monkeys
and jump on trees
When the sun rises darkness appears
the spirit of me bringing all types of fear.

But when I arrive
in the classroom
you'll learn to love
my unique personality.
I play sports
watch TV
talk in school.

You should feel good
I'm just another person.

NEW POEM - 'SPACE JUNK'

They say

that bits of rusty satellite

float around

the sky at night,

that up there, just beyond

the earth’s atmosphere,

hunks of broken debris

drift forlornly.

So I look up and think:

what else

might be stuck there

longing for warmth and love?

An alien’s

homesick teddy, perhaps,

or an astronaut cut loose

from her spaceship.

Maybe there’s a block

of cosmic moon-cheese,

or the spent match

that lit the Big Bang.

If I squint hard enough

I think I can make out

Saturn’s missing

wedding ring

and a lost

love letter

from Neptune

to Pluto

just beyond

the earth’s atmosphere

up there

                        drifting.

 

NEW POEM - 'HERO'

I read a story in the news a while back about a man who tried to convince people he was a soldier, despite never having served in the military. Apparently this is fairly common - you can read an article about it here. Anyway, I decided to have a go at writing a poem about one of these guys. I chose to use the sonnet form. Here goes:

HERO

He never braved the bullets, that’s for sure.
Nor waded he through trenches sopping wet.
This ersatz GI never fought a war
(if we are talking literally) and yet

he dresses in a soldier’s uniform.
'He's never known the meaning of a fight’
rage headlines in the papers, there’s a storm
of protest. He is wrong and we are right.

But isn’t he a hero, in his way?
When we pretend, we don’t go to his length.
We all hide our true natures as we play
at soldiers; this guy has the will and strength

to fire no gun and cause no death or grief
whilst wearing his deception on his sleeve