Friday, 6 July 2018

poem / A Ballad for Roger Casement





A Ballad for Roger Casement

"What gave that roar of mockery
That roar in the seas roar
The ghost of Roger Casement
Is beating at the door" - WB Yeats


This is a tale of contradiction
Paradox and disgrace
Justice was a stranger
And mercy did not show her face

Both catholic and protestant
Patriot and rebel and poet
Non-conformist and humanist
His words and actions show it

Heralded knight of the realm
And enemy of the state
Declared traitor and deviant
To die a martyrs fate

The easter moon rose full and yellow
A dark shadow cast across the sand
That night they captured Roger Casement
On the beach at Banna Strand

This is a tale of betrayal
Of lies and guilt and shame
He kneeled before the king
To die a pawn in that chess game

Never bow head or knee
Speak out for justice 'til your jaw is sore
The ghost of Roger Casement
Is beating at your door

For what distraction is petty controversy
The red herring is in the lies
Focus on scandal and not rebellion
While history unfolds before your eyes

They wanted to make an example
To find a neat scapegoat
They took Roger Casement
And hung him by the throat

Then they threw his naked body
Into an unmarked pit of lime
Creating a symbol and martyr
That would not dissolve with time

"I die for my country"
Said Casement in his dying hour
The power of distortion
The distortion of power

Stand up for all human rights
Social justice, the weak and the poor
Right now I hear the ghost of Roger Casement
Is beating at our door

What do you live for, what do you die for?
What is all this fighting for?
The ghost of Roger Casement
Is beating at our door.



(c) Salena Godden / June 2018
Poem commissioned by Inua Ellams poet in residence at the Tower of London
Written to be performed in the Tower Of London on June 28th 2018


Ahh I had the best time doing poetry at the Tower of London last week,
Thank you Stephen James Smith, Emma Dabiri and Inua Ellams! Legends!!

Thank you!  

This from RED BOX "Blown away by the generous donations collected from Friday's event!! This is enough to not only support our established school over summer but will also allow us to set up more and more red boxes in schools around Sheffield"

Sheffield was amazing! Thanks for all your donations for RED BOX!
I will try and have donation boxes at as many of my gigs as I can. PLEASE Follow @RedBoxProject and find out more about how to donate to your local #RedBoxproject Support this brilliant initiative here: http://redboxproject.org  #endperiodpoverty











Coming up ...
Gigs, festivals, gatherings, parties




JULY 7 | RESONANCE RADIO | TUNE IN 3.30pm



JULY 20 -22 | CHURCHTOWN | CORNWALL









AUGUST 17-19 | EDINBURGH BOOK FESTIVAL

AUGUST 24-27 | LIVEWIRE | BYLINE FESTIVAL




SEPTEMBER 7 | BBC RADIO | LOOSE ENDS

SEPTEMBER 15-16 | THE GOOD LIFE EXPERIENCE


SEPTEMBER 22 | KENILWORTH BOOK FESTIVAL







ROUGH TRADE EDITIONS ARE HERE









ROUGH TRADE LAUNCH PARTY  JULY 23 2018



Rough Trade Books presents…  Rough Trade Editions

Rough Trade Editions comes hurtling out of the blocks with their first twelve pamphlets  — twelve small good things to encourage, console, renew and rewire the world for their readers. Come celebrate at the launch party on Monday 23rd July at The Social, Little Portland Street where Salena Godden brings forth the fire of her recent work on resistance and rebellion, Olly Todd reconfigures a world of fractured time, the slipperiness of memory and dislocation and Joe Dunthorne lovingly skewers the eccentric heroism of the small poetry presses in a new short fiction. David Keenan and Sophy Hollington re-build our symbolic present with a radical tarot for the counter-culture presented as a work of experimental fiction (check out Sophy's exhibition in the upstairs bar whilst you’re there too).  Kirk Lake tells the last act of the story of Randolph Turpin, the Leamington Licker, and through it a story of the corruption of capital, pride and identity, while Babak Ganjei acts as DJ for the evening playing music that might soundtrack his pamphlet Film Ideas which presents a simultaneously melancholy and hilarious satire of the film world.

Essential info…
Monday 23rd July || 7pm || The Social, Little Portland Street, London







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