thisisUll.com Larkin 25

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Philip Larkin' death. To commemorate this, a series of events will be taking place across Hull to celebrate his life and work. As part of the Larkin 25 festival, Write to Speak will hosting a special two-day event at Hull Truck on July 2nd/3rd, and thisisUll.com will be publishing a series of poems inspired by the man himself in the weeks leading up to the events. We are taking this opportunity to ask you, our readers and contributors, to send in your Larkin-themed work to thisisUll.com. These pieces can be about Larkin, or just about Hull in general, as we believe that this is a great chance to highlight Hull's poetry legacy and its continuing role as a hotspot for talent and creativity.

Made in Hull - thisisUll.com announces the release of it's latest development - Larkin25 (iPad/iPhone/iTouch ) Application Version 1.0 On Sale Now. Larkin25 is available now (shortly) for download from the iTunes App Store. Based on the same technology as its sister poetry App iPoetry, the Larkin25 App delivers improved functionality and with new contributions published regularly with audio and video content. Click to find out more..Larkin25

Send your contributions to cilla@thisisUll.com. Get scribbling ... Check the 86 submissions so far from 30 authors below.. Click for Authors Index below: Larkin 25 Poetry Authors Index Page

PRESS RELEASE - Larkin25 (iPad/iPhone/iTouch ) Application on Apple iTunes AppStore Version 1.0 On Sale Now
	Made in Hull - thisisUll.com announces the release of it's latest development - Larkin25 is a living anthology of poetry collected to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the death of Philip Larkin, poet, who made his home in Kingston Upon Hull in the UK. Introducing poetry written by local poets from Hull and its surrounding areas in celebration of Philip Larkin's life and featuring works performed at 'They f*** you up' live performances at Hull Truck Theatre in July 2010. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - England 2009 By Robert Swan
	In a country stable, But unstable, Crumbling, but locked down. Inside. Those that make-up the beast, Benefit from its apparent confinement. Well-groomed and watching all. As those that serve the beast, Take shelter below the jagged Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Stayin' Alive By Kerry-Joe Pulford

Well you'd think by the way we whinge and moan, We'd been rheumatoid since we were born. Our bodies rocked but now they've locked, Stiffs on the town with a botox frown. But it's alright, it's ok, A hip replacement's on the way, Suck the fat - a brand new smile, We've got our surgeon on speed dial. Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Pole Position By John Fewings

Anya lives in Krakow: Stanislav - Milton Keynes. Anya, she has simple tastes: He's 'a man of dreams'. She says, 'You live in tiny flat! Is nothing but a ghetto!' Anya shops in Market Square: Stanislav in Netto. She braids her hair: Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Larkin With Us By Gary Clark

The Hull you knew has long since gone How could it remain the same? The deep sea port you wrote about The town you wouldn't name The grim faced, head scarved northern wives, With Kathy Kirby lips. Dusty Springfield peroxide blondes, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - A Phone Call to Philip Larkin By Liz Healey

Hello, is that Philip? I just want to say That I LOVED your toads, and they've gone a long way To give us Hull folk a great deal of fun, My friend's made a book of them all, with her son. The kids danced and climbed on them, hugged them to death With grans, mums and dads all out of breath Doing the trail, and enjoying the sun; But Philip, just listen, I couldn't get one. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - The Demon Driver of Holderness By David Thompson

With monobosom, crocheted hat, When once behind the wheel she's sat, This luminary of the ladies circle, Around the country roads will hurtle, At breakneck speed from place to place, To With and back at blistering pace, O'er the hill and down the dell, White knuckle ride, bat out of hell, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Me Selfish? No! By Brian Cotton

Married? You want to get married? Are you having a laugh? Sorry for sounding snappy, But why spoil what we have? No, that's never going to happen, I ain't moving in, It's against my religion, I aint living in sin. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Distraction By Robert Swan
	I was looking at your legs, Those curves that sway down To your toes. I was enjoying your lips, Then your eyes; Then your nose. I was lost on a pathway I would love to retrace, Across the pristine paradise Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - The University of Hull Students Union By Julie Corbett

With the right shoes and standing away from the Dance floor; you can feel a sticky ooze in the carpet of John McCarthy's Bar. Not strong enough to hold you fast, it tells of Happy Hours and those Real Ale fests where Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Without You By John Fewings

Without you - Sweet and sour would just taste bitter, Every street be filled with litter. I'd exercise but not get fitter, Need laughing gas to raise a titter - Without you. Granny Smiths would be less juicy, There'd be no gander for the goosey, Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Rock and Soul By Kerry-Joe Pulford

And he stared at me forever, Like he wanted to lick me, Like I was rock with 'Soul' writ through me, And if he just had money, house, car and a ring He could be one of us, and talk about things I could sense his anguish, well this bit - The 'Take him to the pub and make him fit' shit. But I couldn't turn away, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - This Be The Verse By Bronwyn Ellis
	They fuck you up The politicians They may not mean to But they do They fill you up with endless lies False promises made just for you But they were fucked up in their turn When Eaton moulded the young MPs A stiff upper lip as a stiff lower member Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Single Mums By Gary Clark

It's a lonely life for a single mum An empty purse When the shopping's done Beans on toast Every night for tea The staple diet of a one parent family. Her baby sleeps soundly on Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Popstar By Ray Moody

He reflected, 'Hadn't he always been so near yet so far?' Wasn't he there right at the start with The Beatles? They might have had their Mersey Beat but hadn't he been part of the Humber Beat, and wasn't water, water? The trouble was that nobody else wanted it, Did any agents, record companies or managers, bother coming to this city? Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Tess By Amber Goodwin

He loved me. He swore it loud and painfully. Hands like marble, Grey and cold, like that spirit - a broken Infant. It was too late to scream. Apparently, I made my choice. It is of late. My fingers caress the smooth, Gratuitous fabric. Wishing for silk, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Bite For You By Robert Swan
	I'm not the punctual kind, But tonight I'm in time, To feed you a rhyme, That bites. It bites your head, It bites your heart, It remakes the template from the start. Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Imelda By Pamela Scobie

Imelda liked to squash things flat. She loved the crunch, and then the splat! She also liked to tear the wings From inoffensive flying things, And feed them to the cat. I asked her once, in some alarm, Why she inflicted so much harm. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Man Flu By Mark Walmsley
	How can I possibly get up this morning? I'm going to die and that's a warning. Feeling half dead, Got a splitting head, I can barely walk. My throat hurts - when I talk, All my snotty - wet - hankies, Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - City By The Sea By Jade Kennedy

The grey clouds hastened onwards, burdened with winter rain. Brought by North sea winds, they weighed heavily on the bricks and mortar, of the city by the sea. Walls that hold tales of life. Of lives lived behind the same painted door. Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - I'm Not Larkin By Kerry-Joe Pulford

I'm not Larkin. I only want one hit, Like Wordsworth, The Daffodil one. Don't get me wrong I'm all for being prolific ... But it's 25 to f*** And I'm still struggling Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Life Is 140 Characters By Dave Windass

I used to enjoy telling the world What I was up to Using 140 characters But I woke up one morning And realised that writing For 140 characters Is a lot harder Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - A Mother's Lament By David Thompson

Something borrowed, something blue, So little time, so much to do, Things to buy, things to try on, All for a day that's here and gone. A wedding list that's far too long, Who to cross off, bound to be wrong, A day that's meant to be full of joy, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Local Language By Robert Swan
	'Cunts' can be either 'Silly cunts', Or be reclaimed as feminine and pretty, But 'cunts' not always a swear-word, When you get dragged up in Hull City. If you think something smells fishy Then that's a pity, So I'm gunnu explain Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Dust Jackets By Melanie Pearce
	I found a book in another town It attracted my eye, one I couldn't put down It promised me verses and secrets it hid The kind of stories to pass to your kid Instead it showed me the flaws in my self This kind of book should be left on the shelf But this jacket stood out amongst the rest Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Undeserving Heroes By Gary Clark

Sometimes I wish I had a hero And sometimes I think it's quite sad. Someone to look up to Wishing I had what they have. But heroes can be disappointing Especially to a six year old lad. All blonde hair Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Fleas By Terry Ireland

They took away his body armour and he got killed by shot For the serving soldier just one ending of the plot. There's no dignity on any front line nor any comfort for those left behind, but the antics of politicos and their face saving rites, Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - The Child Killer By Pamela Scobie

I'll just take a walk, I tell myself, A little look around. I like the noise and the smell of it: The fairground. Hot fat, hot sugar, hot, fat flesh. Belonging. Being anonymous. Then I see him through the rage and din, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Crow By Dave Windass

There was a crow In our front yard Just the other day Nestling between three wheelie bins And discarded takeaway It scared me when I saw it As I know they bring bad luck It stood its ground Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Wings By Rivelino

Shunned, unable to pick any of heaven's locks, an angel tricked by camouflage and a devil tampering with earthly clocks has his wings stripped by the devil's winds. Human history is mined by the angel Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Hornsea Revisited (for JH) By Julie Corbett

The balmy, early morning Swirls and twirls in my gaze Primary coloured windmills In the salt tang air The waving, littered tide line Edges and hems the sand single, shell and cobbles Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Sounds By David Thompson

Beeching's decimation of the rail, Has left a leafy woodland trail, Once a branch line to the sticks, Took folks to 'With' for two and six, That passes close beside our home, A rustic byway free to roam, From dog walking and country hikers, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - This Is 'Ull By Bronwyn Ellis
	I know the cracks in your concrete complexion, Familiar sights and a vinegary smell, I filter unknown through a sea of strangers, Considering streets I remember so well, I am the child which left your guidance, But still I visit all the time, And when my feet touch on your land, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Tit for Tat By Terry Ireland

Obama kicked ass good with the boss of BP. Now he's had the practice perhaps we'll all see ass kicked at Union Carbide about the Bhopal disaster, still polluting the land twenty six long years after. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - 'Oe Noe Joe' By Liz Healey

I'm coming up four And you know what's more For invention I've got a flair. But I just know I'll get an 'oe noe joe' And told to sit on the bottom stair. I sprayed Dad's veg Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Heed The Warning By Patricia Gray

They told us on the telly to use protection As that is the best way to avoid infection But I didn't realise while I was having fun The amount of damage which could be done Till I went to the doctors on that day and he looked so serious, filled me with dismay I'm sorry to tell you, you've got an infection Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Calm Before the Storm By Malcolm Wilson Bucknall

All around a stillness settles, To cloak the solitude of night. Sombre skies hang gaunt and heavy, A calm befalls the fading light. Then sounds of thunder swell in volume, Lightning scars a crimson sky. Tortured winds increase their fury, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Dancer in the Sky By Helen Burke

Today, I saw a dancer in the sky - And she was me. Well, obviously she wasn't. I use the term loosely, but something about The way she kicked ass, head-butted clouds The way her eyes billowed out with rain Then hoped for sun, Was reminiscent of this other self. This painted bird. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - The Dole Shop By Bronwyn Ellis
	Come down to the dole shop, With queue's of lifeless men, Lining up like soldiers, armed with logbooks and a pen. Come bask in their depression, The air is hushed and bleak, Each person striving to survive on fifty pound a week. The addicts claw their paychecks, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Lennon By Rivelino

The cold earth released Lennon Jesus removed his bullets and compared their wounds, measured cadences of earthly and heavenly sounds. John busked on heaven's streets, Jesus wandered earthly grounds. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Larkin About on the Streets of Hull By Ray Warrington

After you passed that shining gull-marked mud By the widening river where a large town stood, Did you stop for a pee in Waterworks Street? Did you ever bool a barrow down Trundle Street? Were you ever cowardly in Craven Street, Or ride your bike in Carr Lane, Or drive a horse and cart in Chariot Street? Were you hip in City Square? Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - I Came Back to You in September By Ray Moody

I came back to you in September you were quiet then still like you used to be when men were men and I was just a child When the smell of the fish docks mingled well with the stench of the slaughter from the cattle market Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Burns Night Hangover By Pamela Scobie

Rabbie came hame frae Burns Night In two thousand and three, Pissed up and looking for a fight, So he picks on me. Put me in casualty. I've never liked poetry. Rabbie came hame frae Burns Night Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Coulda Woulda Shoulda By Brian Cotton

This life of ours there is only one A blink of the eye and then its gone They said I coulda been a contender for the prize A great big house and fancy car, excellent prospects could go far. Trophy wife hanging off my arm, fancy restaurants drinking pink champagne, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Air Messiah By Ashley Fisher

Welcome aboard to Air Messiah's Flight 666 to Jehovah's Pearly Gate Airport. Prophecies are good and we pray for a smooth ascension. To ensure a pleasant passing over for yourselves and other passengers please observe the following rules: Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - The Sound that the Librarian Heard By Amber Goodwin

It wasn't until the librarian was quiet, Seated comfortably in a chair and Waiting, that he heard it That particular sound. It encircled the empty hall, Seeping into the chair, the air, Moving through the house, its wall A sound that could not be snared. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Life (Inspired by Money) By Bronwyn Ellis
	Seldom is it, that life visits me: 'Why do you let me lie here wastefully?' I am far from what you could have produced, I am far from just a bad excuse. So I look at others, what they do with theirs, They bumble along with personal affairs, Making a mess of the time they are given, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Immediate Incapacitation By Robert Swan
	'Immediate Incapacitation'? What the hell can that be? Other than more 'News Media Terminology'? A special new benefit? That doesn't sound right. Lets re-open the case-notes just for tonight. Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - As I Come Down By Pamela Scobie

As I come down from Sewerby, Higher than spire or tower or tree Before me hangs the sea, Sparkling like laundry on a line Fresh-washed in sunshine. And all the daffodils stare back at me With meercat curiosity, A mad old biddy skipping by. Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Paris Versus Hull By Catherine Scott

I visited Paris recently There was lots to do and lots to see Like the Arc de Triumph and the Eiffel Tower Where I queued up for over an hour Just for the opportunity to scare myself witless And pay over the odds - it was just ridiculous Then there's the museums including The Louvre Fighting my way through was quite a manoeuvre Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Poetry or Prose By John Fewings

There's a very fine distinction Between poetry and prose: It's such a fine dividing line And no-one really knows. You once could tell the difference 'Cos poetry would rhyme But poets just don't bother now; They haven't got the time. Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Drifting By Malcolm Wilson Bucknall

Shadows of the night are drifting Across the shores way out to sea Sedated passions of the long day Resting now contentedly Gentle ripples skim the waters Burnished by the pale moonlight Echoed words are softly whispered Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Men With Books By Holly Roach

	I sat and studied your words. Was told what you meant by a stranger to you and I took it as proof that the saying was true about the pen above the sword, and men with books will be adored Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Once Bitten, Twice You Die! By Bronwyn Ellis
	It'll be fine, He said with drink in hand, As his silent mousy lover, Looked helpless at her man, And as he contemplated where to sip another beer, His misses wondered if tomorrow she would still be here. Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Scatter Me (for TFG) By Pamela Scobie

Oh, scatter me over the umber Humber Under a hurrying sky, On a dark day in December Or a turbulent July. For longer than I can remember I've been preparing to die. I want to go back to wherever it was I came from in 'forty-nine. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Pigeon By Terry Ireland

I am one of the pigeons that live on wilberforce's head which in pigeon meritocracy puts me near the top between those on the city and guildhalls and those on the better type of shop. I got this position by birthright we've been here since 19 and 10 in spite of attempts to remove us Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Help for the Heroes By Patricia Gray

Come on help the Heroes, give your fifty pences When will the government come to its senses? They're sent into battle and give of their blood In a war far away, does it do any good? Blindness, deafness, serious amputations Limitless gratitude owed by the nations They're sent into a war and they give of their best Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 -The Hands of Time By Malcolm Wilson Bucknall

Etched and wrinkled by the winds, Tormenting as they drift. Elements of time have scarred Faces of granite cliffs. Whipped and lashed by angry crests That leap up from the sea, Faces of gaunt granite rocks Grimace their misery. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Love's Vigil By Brian Hodgins

Little old lady standing there Eyes of blue and silvery hair Pavement glistens with winter's frost A vigil kept for the love you lost He sailed away one early dawn To break your heart, left to mourn Dark curly hair, a smiling face A lover's kiss, a last embrace Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Girls Night Out By Liz Healey

It's girl's night out Rita gave me the shout, We're off on a crawl down road It's always all right On a Saturday night With a dry white wine and soda. Sheree's a bit down, She shops around town Since her job went bust at Croda. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Fishy Business By Mark Walmsley
	Scallywags in filthy clothes worn and ragged Doorstep fishwives foul mouthed, old and haggard Scabby grey gulls hover over the trawler fleet load As they pull alongside, a mile from Hessle Road The stench of the fish that will become food and glue The prize of the haul is shared twix skipper and crew Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - After a Larkin Day By Julie Corbett

Where did that day go to? I left it ticked in blue. One firm stroke. And now I suddenly find another in its place. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - How Lovely By Helen Burke

How lovely for you to write - it must - give you something to do at bus-stops - it must be something you can do that guarantees you'll annoy people, it must be one way of looking inside your own head but from the wrong end Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - The Town Council By David Thompson

Twice monthly do the meetings fall, Held in the towns' historic hall, Where mayors of yesterday, look down Upon the dealings of the town. The twelve good men and women who Give free their time, good deeds to do, With minutes taken by the clerk Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Ada The Braider By Brian Hodgins

Ada the braider from Hessle Road way Braided and braided, by night and by day. Nets hung from hooks, at terrace end wide Beneath Ada's pinny a child tries to hide From hooks on the wall Ada braided away The kids in the terrace, each one at their play. Hop scotch and skipping, and block made their day Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Ada The Braider By Brian Hodgins

Ada the braider from Hessle Road way Braided and braided, by night and by day. Nets hung from hooks, at terrace end wide Beneath Ada's pinny a child tries to hide From hooks on the wall Ada braided away The kids in the terrace, each one at their play. Hop scotch and skipping, and block made their day Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Stopped Larking About By Gary Clark

It's easy to fall out of love Or in, as the case may be Lady Chatterley's lover With a Barry White LP. Remember cosy nights by the fire Snuggled on that old settee? Young at heart and oblivious Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Larkin (Inspired by Times Lost) By Terry Ireland

Did Larkin ever walk down Hessle Road Top up in Rayners on cattle market day After hours in Whittington and Cat And for a laugh in the Earl de Grey Did he ever see the parrot Buy the girls a glass or two or three Convince them he wasn't buying as Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Statuesque Larkinesque By David Thompson

The Interchange has had its share, Of criticism foul and fair, But would the critics look askance, If the concourse to enhance, A little culture for to try, On the people passing by, A man who made his home in Hull, Who never thought the place so dull, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Bark at the Moon By Brian Cotton

They tell me that I'm in here cos I ain't very well, If the medicine is working, don't think I can tell, I hope I ain't here long, cos I don't think its fair, So I sit on my bed and pull out my hair, Talk to strange people that are not really there. My wife keeps on phoning and says are you coming home soon, And I say to be honest, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - If Poets Were Shops By Helen Burke

Who would they all be? Here's my guess. Coleridge would be Boots - no question - drugs, drugs and more drugs. And just a few drugs. Wordsworth would be Woolworths - with just the suggestion of cheap lipstick about him (one's always wondered) ... Lord Byron would be Harrods - of course, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Turds (Inspired by Toads ) By Joe Hakim

Why should I let the turd work Shit on my life? Can't I blag my way into life's perks And just toss it off? Sick and defeated we toil Ingesting economic poison - A little bit goes on bills, Rest spent without caution. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - The last Bomb (One Kingston Upon Hull Memorial) By Julie Corbett

Boyes Shop, Morrill Street corner, Holderness Road. You can read a wall plaque. Briefly: This was the site of Savoy Cinema. Then; on March 17th 1945 Twelve dead. (Queuing to see Chaplin'sRead more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - What Trees? (Inspired by The Trees) By Mike Watts

The trees are coming into grief You often hear it being said; For new development, cut and dead, It's ignorance beyond belief. Is it that they'll grow again As we grow old? No, it's not true. They'll be replaced by something new, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Museum Quarter High Street Hull (Inspired by the song Strange Fruits) By Julie Corbett

The display boards bored you all tell and no show. Orange panels ingested quickly in the first room. The story should have unsettled you, started uneasy questioning. You ask instead to go next door to the museum full of trams and cars. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Who Do You Think You Are? By Catherine Scott

Many Hull people are aggrieved At the way they feel that Hull's perceived If Southern Softies are to be believed Hull should never have been conceived. Just who do they think they are? We don't have Kew Gardens or the O2 Arena St Paul's Cathedral or the tennis for Serena Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Declined Laureate By Mark Walmsley
	Philip Arthur Larkin, Rough diamond set in loose facet As once described 'The saddest heart, in post war supermarket' A piquant mixture of discontent And one of poetic lyricism. Critiqued tides of modern jazz He steeped his work in dour pessimism Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - One Straight Road By Julie Corbett

Holderness Road you stray from edge to heart of my city. Your miles once paced by cream telephone boxes. You pass over veins, from the Wolds and Holderness Plain Barmston and Marfleet Drains the brackish water mixing with, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - The Suburbs By Gary Clark

What! Kingston-Upon-Hull! You don't want to live there. Says the condescending old biddy at the end of the phone With a tone in her voice that cuts to the bone. Already I'm a loser and she hasn't seen my face A feeling you get used to when you come from this place. I feel as though I'm rubbish when I'm talked to like this Drummed into me daily since I was a kid. Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - It Really Was! (Inspired by Annus Mirabilis) By Mike Watts

Sexual intercourse began In nineteen eighty three (Which was brilliant for me) - Between the end of Tennessee Williams And Madonna's first LP Up till then they'd only been A sort of wanking A secret stash of porn Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - This Be The Curse (Inspired by This Be The Verse) By Joe Hakim

They fucked us over, our mums and dads. They didn't mean to but they did. They took free education, cheap housing and jobs And left nothing for us, their kids. Because they inherited the future, Opportunity, optimism and hope, While we got disappointment, Read more...

News, Arts - thisisUll.com Larkin 25
	This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Philip Larkin' death. To commemorate this, a series of events will be taking place across Hull to celebrate his life and work. As part of the Larkin 25 festival, Write to Speak will hosting a special two-day event at Hull Truck on July 2nd/3rd, and thisisUll.com will be publishing a series of poems inspired by the man himself in the weeks leading up to the events. We are taking this opportunity to ask Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - It's Good Innit? By Catherine Scott

This is Hull - wot we got? Sanitization, deprivation Unemployment, no motivation Teenage mums, no inspiration It's good innit? This is Hull - wot we got? Beggars on street Coppers on beat Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Returning to Paragon, St. Stephens By Julie Corbett

The harvest of sniper seeds Loaded to crevice and gutter Lesser yellowed urban bouquets Chlorophyll stems Renewing old lines and visions Seasonal planning of the green space Many striations and stipples Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - The Farmers Market By Gary Clark

I saw a farmers market today on Prinny Dock side A good place for a market thought I How long have farmers made plastic tractors for kids? And little aeroplanes that fly around on a stick? Looked a bit desolate, the traders bored stiff Not many farmers and nowt for a quid The fat and the skinny the big and the tall Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 -A Park for the People By Gary Clark

Built on some land on the wrong side of town A sweetener for the people whose houses they pulled down Provided by money from the Queens Jubilee A gift from the council for the new community The mud, the dog mess, and overgrown rose beds Where once it was new and pristine and clean A place to admired, a place to be seen Read more...

Poetry Larkin 25 - Park Rain By Laurenceaux

The rain rodded down, pock-marking the pond as the moon shone in a halo of colours. Sheltered we stood by a roof and our hearts    Read more...