My name is ..........
Displaced poems for invisible people.
I am pleased to be able to share that my latest book is now out and available to buy on Amazon. It has been an important project for me, exploring themes of "otherness" as the foreword explains below. I shall be sharing some of the poems both on this website and Twitter, but if you would like a copy of the book, the price has been kept deliberately low at only £3 for the paperback and £1.50 for the Kindle edition.
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Enjoy!
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FOREWORD TO "My name is........"
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This pamphlet of poems grew out of a reflection on the notion of “othering”, and the stories I have encountered which speak of the pain of being made to feel excluded. Like many people, I have a growing sense of anger at the prevalence of the narrow-minded exclusion of people on the basis of prejudice, intolerance, and arrogance. Last year, the town in which we live was chosen to be host to a group of asylum seekers who were placed in a hotel on the seafront, many of them having recently survived perilous journeys from across the world. Local social media exploded with a barrage of racist abuse and intolerance which was both alarming and depressing. One friend talked of being subject to a rant about criminal foreigners while she was a captive audience in her hairdresser’s chair, and sadly I have heard many abusive tirades of abusive language as well as muttered tropes of intolerance. There were, of course, others who stood up to be counted and offered words of welcome, and Refugee charities who worked to support and stand up for the rights of people fleeing terror and intimidation, but the culture of exclusion was palpable. It is a hallmark of civilised humanity that we are judged by how we care for the most vulnerable of us, and all of us have a duty to stand up for justice when and where we can. Like many, I fail at this much of the time and rest in my own privilege, but I will continue to do my bit where I can, to look with open eyes to see what is to be seen and think with an open mind to think what needs to be done, and to call out injustice and intolerance whenever I can. Poetry can be an indulgent pursuit, but it can also facilitate a way of seeing and feeling that can move those who are seeking new perspectives on the things of this world that we struggle to know how to respond to. If any of the words and poems in this pamphlet inspire or prompt you to see something differently and ask curious questions about why such things are tolerated, then I will feel justified in inflicting this personal little booklet on the world.
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Thank you.
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Jon Doble
2023
