This Month’s Poems

The summer Poems on the Underground go live on Underground and Overground trains on June 1st

The summer poems include the Clown’s song from Shakespeare’s  Merchant of Venice: ‘Tell me where is fancy bred / Or in the heart or in the head?’ alongside contemporary works by Glyn Maxwell,  Maura Dooley, Rita Ann Higgins and two Polish poets, Krystyna Lenkowska and Tadeusz Dabrowski.  Common themes include love and memory, family relationships and political satire of enduring relevance.

This month we also feature poems to celebrate Windrush Day to mark the 78th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush in Britain, bringing men, women and children from the Caribbean to help rebuild a war-ravaged country.

Listen to Windrush Day Recordings

New Summer Poems on the Underground

‘Song’ by William Shakespeare from The Merchant of Venice, III.2.63

Song Tell me where is fancy bred, Or in the heart or in the head? How begot, how nourishèd? Reply, reply. It is engendered in the eyes, With gazing fed; and fancy dies In the cradle where it lies Let us all ring fancy’s knell: I’ll begin it: Ding, dong, bell. Ding, dong, bell. The Merchant of Venice, III.2.63 William Shakespeare

‘A Bunch of Consolation’ by Maura Dooley

A Bunch of Consolation You think they’ll always be there, (the ones who always have been). They showed you the way, not their way but how to find your own (and what to say), sweeping the path of leaves or snow but then they leave, they go, before you were ready (how could you ever be ready?) to wonder, wondering, what have you learned exactly? To love, to speak up, to hold steady. Hold steady. Maura Dooley from Five Fifty-Five (Bloodaxe 2023)

‘When I Was a Fish’ by Krystyna Lenkowska translated by the author and Cecilia Woloch

When I Was a Fish When I was a fish or a bird I didn’t need reputation nor the safe tomorrow nor a solid bed with a soft pillow for the body I wasn’t looking for reasons and answers I wasn’t carving holes in the table with my elbows nor in the mattress I was keeping silent or singing when I was a fish or a bird. Krystyna Lenkowska translated by the author and Cecilia Woloch © Krystyna Lenkowska from Decompression Decompresja (Fraza 2026)

When I Was a Fish written and read by by Krystyna Lenkowska

‘Letter’ by Tadeusz Dabrowski translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Letter Yesterday I sent you a letter. And today on the phone you tell me you are pregnant. I pack up and return, you greet me at the airport, you’re even lovelier than in my letter that’s on its way to you. We build a house, our child grows, our parents shrink, then a few years of sweat and tears, in which we prudently pickle cabbage and gherkins for the ever colder days. In the colouring book of our life there are fewer and fewer blank spaces, the crayons grow shorter, we try to be precise, but even so we go over the lines. We busy ourselves with everyday matters, and our paths are ever deeper, they start to look like tunnels. Meanwhile my letter’s on its way to you. You’ll open it when it suits you best. Tadeusz Dabrowski, Translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones from The Scent of Man (Arrowsmith Press 2025)

Letter written and read by Tadeusz Dabrowski

‘A Rousing Speech’ by Glyn Maxwell

‘A Rousing Speech’ By stock-still flags on the hottest day Recorded, He delivered a rousing speech to about six Hundred. At the end of his speech the caps would be hurled Skyward. The sky was the blue of the blue sky on a Postcard. There it all is in a black-and-white shot in the Paper. Depicting the memorable scene at his alma Mater. The sky is the grey it would turn and, in capitals Under: PRESIDENT RALLIES THE TROOPS FOR THE WAR ON THUNDER. Glyn Maxwell from Hide Now (Picador 2008)

‘No One Mentioned the Roofer’ for Pat Mackey by Rita Ann Higgins

No One Mentioned the Roofer (for Pat Mackey) We met the Minister, we gave him buns, we admired his suit. The band played, we all clapped. No one mentioned the roofer; whose overtime was cut whose under time was cut whose fringe was cut whose shoelaces were cut whose job was lost. We searched for his job but it had disappeared. One of us should have said: Hey Minister, we like your suit have a bun, where are our jobs? But there was no point, he was here on a bun eating session not a job finding session. His hands were tied. His tongue a marshmallow. Rita Ann Higgins

No One Mentioned the Roofer written and read by Rita Ann Higgins

Poems Celebrating Windrush Day

John Agard, ‘Windrush Child’ (for Vince Reid, the youngest passenger on the Windrush, then aged 13)  

Windrush Child (for Vince Reid, at 13 the youngest passenger on the Empire Windrush) Behind you Windrush child palm trees wave goodbye above you Windrush child seabirds asking why around you Windrush child blue water rolling by beside you Windrush child your Windrush mum and dad think of storytime yard and mango mornings and new beginnings doors closing and opening John Agard Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Alternative Anthem: Selected Poems (2009)
Dew, Kwame Dawes ' This morning I took the dew from the broad leaf of the breadfruit tree, and washed the sleep from my eyes.

Dew read by Kwame Dawes

dreamer, Jean Binta Breeze 'roun a rocky corner by de sea seat up pon a drif wood yuh can fine she gazin cross de water a stick eena her han tryin to trace a future in de san'

Dreamer by Jean Binta Breeze read by Kwame Dawes

Dei Miracole by Lemn Sissay ' The spirit of structure can’t be foreseen, For somewhere between The architecture and the dream More than the sum of its parts Somehow, somewhere, the heart.' Copyright Listener by Lemn Sissay, 2008. First published in Great Britain by Canongate Books Ltd.

Dei Miracole read by Lemn Sissay

And if I speak of Paradise, Roger Robinson ‘And if I speak of Paradise then I’m speaking of my grandmother who told me to carry it always on my person, concealed, so no one else would know but me.’

Imtiaz Dharker reading A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson

Benediction, James Berry 'Thanks to the ear that someone may hear Thanks to seeing that someone may see'

James Berry reading Benediction

I am Becoming My Mother, Lorna Goodison ' Yellow/brown woman fingers smelling always of onions My mother raises rare blooms and waters them with tea'

I Am Becoming My Mother by Lorna Goodison read by Valerie Bloom

Sun a-shine, rain a-fall, Valerie Bloom 'Sun a-shine, rain a-fall, The Devil an' him wife cyan 'gree at all, The two o'them want one fish-head, The Devil call him wife bonehead, She hiss her teeth, call him cock-eye, Greedy, worthless an 'workshy, While them busy callin' name, The puss walk in, sey is a shame To see a nice fish go to was'e, Lef' with a big grin pon him face.'

Sun A-Shine read by Valerie Bloom

Colonization in Reverse Wat a joyful news, Miss Mattie, I feel like me heart gwine burs’ Jamaica people colonizin Englan in reverse. By de hundred, by de t’ousan From country and from town, By de ship-load, by de plane-load Jamaica is Englan bound. Dem a-pour out o’ Jamaica, Everybody future plan Is fe get a big-time job An settle in de mother lan. What a islan! What a people! Man an woman, old an young Jusa pack dem bag and baggage An tun history upside dung! Louise Bennett © Louise Bennett 1966 from Jamaica Labrish (Sangsters, 1966)

Colonization in Reverse by Louise Bennett read by Valerie Bloom

The London Breed I love dis great polluted place Where pop stars come to live their dreams Here ravers come for drum and bass And politicians plan their schemes, The music of the world is here Dis city can play any song They came to here from everywhere Tis they that made dis city strong. A world of food displayed on streets Where all the world can come and dine On meals that end with bitter sweets And cultures melt and intertwine, Two hundred languages give voice To fifteen thousand changing years And all religions can rejoice With exiled souls and pioneers. Benjamin Zephaniah Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Too Black Too Strong (2001)

The London Breed by Benjamin Zephaniah read by Valerie Bloom

Rising, Jean Binta Breeze having some summers gone dug out that old tree stump that darkened my garden having waited without planting (for it was impossible then to choose the growth) having lost the dream but not the art of healing having released the roots of pain into content I now stir the skies

rising by Jean Binta Breeze read by Valerie Bloom

from We Refugees We can all be refugees Sometimes it only takes a day, Sometimes it only takes a handshake Or a paper that is signed. We all came from refugees Nobody simply just appeared, Nobody’s here without a struggle, And why should we live in fear Of the weather or the troubles? We all came here from somewhere Benjamin Zephaniah from We Refugees Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books Limited from Wicked World (Puffin, 2000).

We Refugees by Benjamin Zephaniah read by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

A song for England, Andrew Salkey. Poems on the Underground poster 1991 'An' a so de rain a-fall An' a so de snow a-rain An' a so de fog a-fall An' a so de sun a-fail An' a so de seasons mix An' a so de bag-o'-tricks But a so me understan' De misery o' de Englishman.

A Song for England by Andrew Salkey read by Jason Salkey

Like A Beacon, Grace Nichols 2009 Poster 'In London every now and then I get this craving for my mother’s food I leave art galleries in search of plantains saltfish/sweet potatoes I need this link I need this touch of home swinging my bag like a beacon against the cold'

Like a Beacon by Grace Nichols read by Valerie Bloom

James Berry, ‘Sea-Song One’

Sea-Song One Come on Seawash of travel Expose new layers of skin Come on calm voice of sea Come and settle on land Sea’s tumble wash Change our rags for riches Come on – tumble wash of sea Clear away the bloody waters Clear away the bloody waters James Berry Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Windrush Songs, reprinted in A Story I Am In: Selected Poems (2011)

Sea-Song One by James Berry read by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

Kei Miller, ‘The only thing far away’ 

The only thing far away In this country, Jamaica is not quite as far as you might think. Walking through Peckham in London, West Moss Road in Manchester, you pass green and yellow shops where tie-headwomen bargain over the price of dasheen. And beside Jamaica is Spain selling large yellow peppers, lemon to squeeze onto chicken. Beside Spain is Pakistan, then Egypt, Singapore, the world. . . here, strangers build home together, flood the ports with curry and papayas; in Peckham and on Moss Road, the place smells of more than just patty or tandoori. It smells like Mumbai, like Castries, like Princess Street, Jamaica. Sometimes in this country, the only thing far away is this country. Kei Miller Reprinted by permission of Carcanet from There Is an Anger That Moves (2007)

Grace Nichols, ‘Bourda’ 

Bourda Marvel again at the market stalls singing the earth’s abundance in the heaped-up homegrown freshness of their own vernacular favoured names. Not Aubergine but Balanjay Not Spinach but Calaloo Not Green-beans but Bora Not Chilli but Bird-pepper And not just any mango but the one crowned, Buxton Spice, Still hiding its ambrosia in the roof of my mouth, still flowering like the bird-picked mornings on the branches of my memory. Grace Nichols Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books from Passport to Here and There (2020)

Beacon of Hope (for John La Rose) by Linton Kwesi Johnson

from Beacon of Hope (for John La Rose) by Linton Kwesi Johnson ' welcome nocturnal friend I name you beacon of hope tonight fear fades to oblivion as you guide us beyond the stars to a new horizon tomorrow a stranger will enter my hut my cave my cool cavern of gloom I will give him bread he will bring good news from afar I will give him water he will bring a gift of light'

Beacon of Hope by Linton Kwesi Johnston read by Nick Makoha

The Palm Trees at Chigawe. Jack Mapanje 'You stood like women in green Proud travellers in panama hats and java print'

The Palm Trees at Chigawe by Jack Mapanje read by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

Summer Poems on the Underground

The Railway Children, Seamus Heaney ' When we climbed the slopes of the cutting We were eye-level with the white cups Of the telegraph poles and the sizzling wires.' '

Listen to Seamus Heaney reading The Railway Children

Cuckoo by Fujiwara no Toshinari

Cuckoo, Fujiwara no Toshinari ‘Has it flown away, The cuckoo that called Waking me at midnight?’

Repeat that, repeat by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Small Brown Job by Gwyneth Lewis

Small Brown Job, Gwyneth Lewis ‘May you be led on all your walks By an unidentified bird Flitting ahead, at least one branch, The tease, between you And it. Is that an eyeStripe? Epaulette? Your desire For a name grows stronger.’

Swallows by Owen Sheers

Swallows, Owen Sheers Poems on the Underground 2012 'The swallows are italic again, cutting their sky-jive between the telephone wires, flying in crossed lines. Their annual regeneration so flawless to human eyes that there is no seam between parent and child. Just always the swallows and their script of descenders, dipping their ink to sign their signatures across the page of the sky.'

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) Poems on the Underground 1994 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all to short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest, Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest; So long as men can breath, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. '

New Poems Summer 2026

New Poems February 2026

New Poems Autumn 2025

New Poems Summer 2025

New Poems Spring 2025

Poems from May 2026

Poems from April 2026

Poems from March 2026

Poems from February 2026

Poems from January 2026

Poems from 2025

Poems from 2024

poems from 2023

poems from 2022

poems from 2021

Poems from 2020

Love Poems Leaflet

February Poems Leaflet

War Poems on the Underground leaflet

Poems on the Underground at the Scottish Poetry Library