It’s been a turbulent time for so many communities this summer as rioting spread from the Southport tragedy, and Teesside was targeted as an early flashpoint.

After checking in with individuals in our TWP family who we knew to be particularly vulnerable, we were left with that frantic feeling inside – what can we do? What can we actually do?

Some of us could join the clear ups and counter-demos, but many of us couldn’t, for very good reasons rooted in our own physical and mental health. Anger, fear, and guilt threatened to overwhelm.

So we did what we are here to do – we relied on sisterhood, connection, and writing poetry together as our way to feed our resilience and articulate our truths. We held online and in-person gatherings to touch base, and we offered up a simple set of writing prompts to lead people from venting immediate emotion towards other possibilities – compassion, celebration, and considering systemic oppression.

Here are those prompts:

And here are some of our poems:

Riot by Mandy Winter

Belligerent, baying brutes bellow indignities
At the girls with scarves on their heads
Yell slurs at the man with brown skin
While he tries to protect himself
His home, his family, his business
From red, angry faces
With fire in their bellies
And hate in their hearts
Wrecking everything in reach
Leaving destruction in their wake
Pass stolen goods among themselves
This is OUR country, they scream
Yet this is their idea of protection
Destroying communities, 
causing nothing but pain.

A Child’s Questions by Mandy Winter

Daddy, why are there people outside
Shouting and banging and angry?
Mum, they just smashed up a window
Why would they do something like that?
Oh! There’s Imran’s daddy
HI MISTER AMIR! Look at me waving!
Why are they shouting at Mr Amir?
Why can’t I look out of the window?
Imran’s daddy is my friend
We walk to school together
Why didn’t he wave?
Why won’t they stop shouting Mum?
Dad, what was that big noise?
….
Imran wasn’t at school today
I missed him very much
We play football, Paw Patrol, Pokemon
When is he coming back, Dad?
Why is that car all burned?
Why are there bricks and glass everywhere?
Where is Imran, Mum?
I saw his mum looking out of the window
She looked very sad, was she crying?
Can I go round his house to play?
Imran is my friend

To The Rioters by Maz

I wonder what made you forget
That the noise you made would not
shield parents from too silent homes
Toys being given away
And doors
To little girls rooms forever being closed.
	 
I wonder what made you forget
Eyes that sparkled and lit up
Voices shouting 'Mam where’s my tea!'
Or ‘Dad pick me up’
	 
I wonder what made you forget
School uniforms and Sunday best dresses
Singing,
Dancing
Spinning
Every turn creating
a rainbow of a thousand colours
	 
I wonder what made you forget
That this was not a time for hate
But a time to mourn

The Embers of Hope are Dying – a flash fiction by Sandra Falconer 

Last night, angry protesters caused carnage as they rampaged through the streets. This morning, Robyn, brush in hand, joined an army of dejected locals determined to restore order.  

As she swept up broken glass, a young man stepped forward. 

“Let me hold the shovel.” 

Robyn’s smile froze as she looked up,  “Wait a minute, you were one of the rioters. I saw you on TV.” 

The man hung a shaven head. 

‘My Gran saw it too,’ he muttered, ‘She gave me hell. I’m really sorry.’ 

In that moment, hope was rekindled. 

Dreams by Aisha Lama

Genetic Patchwork by Lizzie Lovejoy

My body is a jigsaw
Some pieces seem mismatched
So ignore those shapes
With the ‘wrong’ labels attached.

There are bits of Italy
Swimming in these veins.
And when they’re eating lemon tops
Nobody complains —
There are parts of me
No one can see
‘Till they’re drawing out my blood
Genetic patchwork, stitched together
Found in the red flood.

No one should have to justify
The reasons they exist.
Enforcing a binary,
But the spectrum still persists.

Your body is a jigsaw
Gifted from Oceans afar.
Some try to hide those pieces,
But they’ve made you who you are.


We Are More by Lizzie Lovejoy

We watch the news and feel its weight.
We see the horror and witness the hate,
And we want to scream because the debate
Comes after the chaos, comes far too later.

And it comes without people, just labels and blame
Scapegoats and characters without any name
Remove the human to avoid the humane
Post a picture and caption then forget to explain.

But we are all more than lists on a page,
And we deserve to feel and engage
Are you surprised there is anger and rage?
We refuse your words boxing us in one cage,

Things we are supposed to be
Because so many refuse to see
All of the complexity
That forms a human's chemistry.

We are more than headlines,
We cannot be defined.
It’s time to remind
With bold underline:

You write about us
Without us.
We will never be your labels.
We deserve a seat at the table.