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Peter Street

Colours

 

1954 my five years old

favourite colour royal blue  

bucket and spade  

swimming trunks all blue

 

blue until school days

when dad bought

me a red satchel  

and took me to

 

red evenings

 

innocent of colour

until Thatcher and co  

with deep breaths

 

lungs ready to burst

 

blue away families

miners, pits  blue away

their brass bands  blue away

 

confidence and marriages

 

my angry years became Red

Peter Street was born in England 1948, and lives in Wigan. He left school epileptic and barely able to read and write. To date has had three collections of poetry behind him: Out Of The Fire (Spike Books, 1993) (a Forward Nomination), Still Standing (TowPath Press, 1998), Trees Will Be Trees (Shoestring Press, 2001). In 2006 Peter was commissioned to write poetry for a Tony Bevan Catalogue, a way in, to Tony's paintings. His poetry has also been seen on television in Germany, Holland and here in England on both ITV and BBC. His New and Selected Poems, Thumbing from Lipik to Pakrac, were published by Waterloo Press in 2008. He lives and works in Atherton, Lancashire. His latest publications are Rite of Passage - A Gravedigger's Memoir and A Kind of Village, both published by Natterjack Press (2015).

atos
Poor Doors
Sheriff Stars
spikes

thistles stretch their prickly arms afar

Black Triangle
bedroom tax
Disrupt and Upset
triangle_small
spikes
bedroom tax
Sheriff Stars

thistles stretch their prickly arms afar

Black Triangle
Disrupt and Upset

Militant Thistles

prickling the politics of "permanent austerity"

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