Publications

The Words of Others are All We Have is a poetry pamphlet by Louise Machen and J. Daniel West that explores and illustrates aspects of working-class life and how, with the instability that comes from “systematic indifference” and an ever-widening socioeconomic gap, all we truly have is each other.

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Written conversationally, this collection is an exercise in improvisation, with each poem springing spontaneously to answer the one before, starting from the perspective of living under systems designed to make it easy for some to succeed while others have to “walk the long way home.”

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Much like any conversation, and the broad scope of what it means to be working class, the poems meander through various forms and topics - life on council estates, gentrification, games of Kerby, graffiti conversations, religious imagery, nods to Shakespeare - but still follow the core theme of helplessness and the inescapable impact of hierarchies built to keep power from the hands of the majority and safe in the deep pockets of the few. The speakers of these poems are accustomed to “moving goalposts” and existing within a topography where neighbours live “streets away and worlds apart.”

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In a time where a huge percentage of the population struggles with the cost of living, The Words of Others are All We Have shines a light down into the murky depths to illuminate the too often unseen obstacles so many of us wrestle with alongside those who can afford turn a blind eye and are content to ignore the “dirt” that doesn’t affect them.

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However, this poetic light is not voyeuristic; it is introspective and illuminating, wielded by writers wading knee-deep through the water. It is used as a beacon to clarify that being working class is not – nor should it be – a one-dimensional curse we must strive to leave behind in order to be deemed worthy of ambition, dignity and respect. In fact, our “root-networks” are sources of strength in the challenging landscape of 21st Century Northern England and the stark view of adversity offered by this collection is softened by a warm familiarity suggesting, together, we will always have enough.