To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
Latest editorial
Trussed Up
Simon Haines
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
We’re trussed up like a kipper
by this trickle-down wheeze of theirs.
They don’t believe in it themselves,
they know it doesn’t work.
If it worked, of course, there’d be no point
in giving handouts to the rich.
No — we should all be aspirational —
opt to enrich ourselves,
and gain from their trickle-up.
While labouring at this Herculean task
Of becoming rich and powerful
We’ll witness the way those already there
Piss on us, the poor and powerless.
Simon Haines is a language teacher, textbook writer and folk musician. He lives in Suffolk. 21st-century Poetry is edited by Andy Croft, email info@smokestack-books.co.uk.
Similar stories
In the second and final part of his article MIKE SCOTT posits that if we don’t control AI while we’ve got the chance, we could be signing the death warrant for our children and grandchildren
Two inspring books — that’s your New Year’s musing from me on January 2 2026
ANDY CROFT welcomes the publication of an anthology of recent poems published by the Morning Star, and hopes it becomes an annual event
by Christopher Norris