Paki Lover and Other Poems

by Ben Speroni | Wednesday, 31 August 2011 | Click here for original article

Paki Lover and Other Poems by Andy Carrington.
£2.50; available online from http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/pakilover

'I used to step / on the same paving slabs / as the great working-class poet / Tony Harrison,' writes Andy Carrington, proudly, in 'Poetic Self Defence'.

Carrington's straightforward language and personal honesty are reminiscent of Harrison, though his style has more in common with American thirties poets such as Kenneth Fearing, whose tough Marxism was often tinged with bitterness.

Carrington's bitterness is fierce and frequent, sometimes bordering on pessimism and paranoia, as in 'It's Only Going to Get Worse' ('“Look to the future,” / they say, / as if aiding the morosity / of my scribbles'). But the anger does have a focus - on the racist and fascist groups he's seen marching on his streets. His descriptions of the EDL, as in 'The Streets Have No Shame', will strike a chord with anti-Fascists:

They want their country back
and claim a peaceful protest,
each supping ten pints of lager
in Wetherspoons before
they mask their faces and take
to the streets ready for war

At times like these, Carrington is more Billy Bragg than Tony Harrison. But like all good anti-fascists, Carrington has a sense of humour about it all:
'I may stand / and HANG THE FLAG / PROUD / (mainly for the cider / it has given me)' he writes in 'Paki Lover.' And despite his anger at the prejudice he sees around him, his final thought is optimistic: '“The division of colour, / the division of class, / they're both false; / The only real and true / thing here… is love."'