Poetry Health Service

Visit the poetryhealthservice.com to collect your poetry prescription & send us a haiku back! Or you can text POETRY to 07401 257 351! Like, share & follow @PoetryHealth on Twitter & Instagram! Let your friends & family know - poetry panaceas by the people, for the people! #phs

Fascinating and funny #NorthernVoices #poetry at Spotland Library on Saturday hosted by Poet Laureate @SammyWeaverPoem alongside other award-winning poets and writers inc @Hafsah_A_Bashir @mikegarry Alende Amisi, Yasmin Hussain & Sid Calderbank 👏 #RochdaleTownOfCulture

Amazing event preserving #socialhistory & #untoldstories by poet, curator & our Co-Director, Hafsah_A_Bashir. Visit this brilliant #BeyondTheFireRememberingOxfordMills #exhibition about the Aug 6th 2019 mill fire in Ashton-Under-Lyne alongside Hafsah’s poetry film & documentary!

This image of my ‘dad’ Mr Bashir Ahmed & I encompasses why I do the work I do, #archiving #globalmajority #stories #histories #heritage. I’m honouring his #textilesjourney at #Tameside’s #OxfordMills b4 the Aug 2019 fire so visit the exhibition at Mcr Central Library Jul-Oct 25

‘At the height of the inferno, around 75 firefighters tackled the blaze.’ ~ MEN, 7 Aug 2019. 💫 Join me for 2 film screenings & the launch of an exhibition exploring connection & loss of Oxford Mills in A-U-L Sat 12 July, 11~1.30pm. Use the QR to book! Exhibition runs Jul-Oct!

Why isn’t there a “coalition of the willing” to stop the mass starvation and genocide in Gaza?

In Jerusalem tonight, people holding photos of Palestinian children killed in Gaza. This specific form of protest is getting bigger every week now. Enough.

I wrote a piece for the guardian about the reaction to my settlers documentary. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

💫 Great evening Wed night at Special Edition - The #FourthSpace event celebrating #southAsian contemporary #poets @natpoetrylib @southbankcentre curated brilliantly by @couldseeher! I loved sharing space & the love of #poetry with @a_pirmohamed @AkhtarSascha & #jamalmehmood! 💫

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She was such a gem. A well spoken truth teller #NikkiGiovanni Rest In Power 🕊️📝❤️‍🩹

#NikkiGiovanni, the legendary poet and revolutionary voice of justice, has left this earth, leaving an irreplaceable void. Her words, bold and unapologetic, ignited movements, healed wounds, and inspired generations to rise above oppression. She was a poet of the people, capturing the beauty and complexity of Black life with unmatched grace and power. Her passing is a profound loss to humanity, but her legacy is eternal. Nikki Giovanni’s voice will continue to echo in the hearts of all who seek justice, love, and liberation. The world is better for her presence and forever changed by her artistry. Rest in peace.

Just finished up from a beautiful evening celebrating the full heart that is @FiLesley of @PoetryExch at #Rambert. With readings, her laughter, photographs, books, songs, poems & many memories shared by friends & family it was hard to see a dry eye- what a wonderful treasure💫❤️

Poem by Fady Joudah.

Not Front Page News

I wrote this poem two months ago and it was published a few days ago by @zeteo_news as part of my long poem mourning my people. When I wrote it, I did not see the hand of Sha’ban Al-Dalu reaching out in midst of flames. So here is the updated poem: A hand is no longer a hand as long as it does not find another hand to shake, as long as it does not find food to share with others, as long as it does not find a pen to write, as long as it’s the only meat a dog can find to eat, as long as it reaches out in the midst of flames, and as long as it goes missing, forever.

Dear reader: If we don’t meet in person, then this book is a handshake. Place your hand, right or left, or even both, on its cover. Feel the warmth of souls in the pages. Place the book close to your ear. If the noise is more than your head can bear, take the book with you to a forest not one human ever walked. When you open the book, the poems shall scream, the words like shrapnel, bomb, and F-16 shall cut the branches and trunks of centuries-old trees. The roots shall bury their eyes and you shall witness the true scene of what this planet looks like, should you look truly, as long as these poems happen again and again and again.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and post a rare personal, and very vulnerable, post. I went out to dinner on my own after a late meeting, thinking it would be a break from the pain and heartache so many of us are feeling. I ended up bursting into tears uncontrollably 1/

You are forever in our hearts dear @FiLesley 🧡🕊️

Honored to be featured in Poets and Writers Magazine. In honor of my family and of Refaat and of my student Hatem and of all my friends. Big thanks to Destiny Birdsong and the editors of @poetswritersinc