Strike

These poems are so powerful and moving that they almost set the page alight with their anger and craft; set alongside stunning photographs they really are first drafts of a history that needs to be told. Ian McMillan

It's March 1984 and the miners' strike has just started. By exploring both famous and previously unseen photographs through the lens of poetry, STRIKE captures the turbulence of one of the longest industrial disputes in British history, and the spirit of a marginalised community on the verge of profound change.

In STRIKE we journey from the North East which inspires Billy Elliot, to Wivenhoe Docks where flying pickets attempt to stop coal imports, to children riddling coal on spoil tips in Wales. We come face to face with politicised 'Women Against Pit Closures' and riot police brutality, and we discover what motivates Scargill while Thatcher's tactics are laid bare in the Ridley Plan. The BBC's reversed news footage of the Battle of Orgreave illustrates how the media manipulates coverage and the infamous ballot box stands silent. But there are moments of humanity: an impromptu game of football between Nottinghamshire police and strikers, the Pits and Perverts concert organised by 'Lesbians and Gays Support The Miners', and a Scottish policeman giving a picket the kiss of life. By 1985, these poems ache with strike-breakers, impacted children, and tragic deaths, but even in this most desperate of class struggles there are still flashes of humour and hope.