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February – March 2026 : Progress READ ONLINE

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Places and things

February 01 2026

Two poems of contrasting styles, the pair play on themes such as the past, the future and social commentary. Presented in opposing enigmatic and vernacular style. By Chris Bird and Gemma Lees 

Emerging
by Chris Bird

Emerging from shadow,
Like still and reliable witnesses,
The houses line the empty, seaside dawn.
Each door with its own unhurried, 
Silence,
Each with a number,
To define the years.

Soon the girls will go past,
In summer colours,
Fading like bright smoke.

August and September,
We mouth stolen words,
In a cascade of new days,
Like whispers, like lies.

The breeze speaks soon,
Without any particular aim,
Moving almost silently,
Over rooftops and trees.

Looking down you realise,
For the first time,
Hand in hand against the sun,
The shadows that follow,
Across the hard ground.


Artist in focus

Gemma Lees is a Romany Gypsy, disabled and autistic fine-art installationist, poet, comedian, facilitator, journalist and performance artist from Bury, Lancashire. Her practise focuses on protest, advocacy, inclusion and telling the stories that no one else is. Gemma’s Romany history is incredibly important to her and she is passionate about sharing and platforming the immense positives of her culture in a world that sometimes seems to focus on the negatives. 

A thousand years ago the Roma left Rajasthan, probably after the invasion of the Ghaznivad Empire, and arrived in Britain in the 16th Century. Britons mistook the Romanies for Egyptians, so started calling them ‘Gypsies’. The words used in some of Gemma’s poems are from the Romani or Romanes language. Her culture, past and experience are essential in her work. Read one of her poems below.


Floorboards
by Gemma Lees

These are the floorboards you wished for
These floorboards are yours
And the plaster that rains dust with every slight touch
And the raised nails and buckled screws
All of this belongs to you
Remember those nights when you laid wide awake
Whilst the building quaked with the sounds of co-habitation?
The slams and slaps and shouts and screams 
Imagining the soundest of sleep 
When you reached your destination
Now you keep the TV on all night 
Because silence sounds worse
And you thought that there was fuck-all in your purse
‘Til you found out how much carpet costs 
This is what you counted down to
This is what you celebrated
Now you exist in a mess you never created 
And can’t afford to fix 
And they’re only forced to give a shit 
‘Til you sign on the dotted line
And now you sit inside alone all the time
And lay awake at night counting the 
Gouges and furrows and holes
And all the nowt you ever got left over from your dole
And the rigmarole that scored you your floorboards
And the stillness and illness and listless life stalled
The sawdust, the rust, tepid trust gone n’all.

< Optimism/rejection The Watchtower part I >
February – March 2026 : Progress

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