Even though William and Kate did their level best to keep their big day low-key, the event didn't escape the attentions of Irish poets, Brigid O'Connor (Happily Ever After) and Peter Goulding (An Invite to the Wedding). And, Paul Levy's 'Divorcing the Masses' provided the perfect antidote to flags, bunting and pageantry.

However, it hasn't all been about princes, street parties and ecstatic crowds, this week. Douglas Polk's 'A Question of Policy' considers the place of humanitarianism within a political agenda, and Philip Challinor's 'Immortality' is a chilling reminder of the danger nuclear waste poses to our planet.

Clare is away at the Wenlock Poetry Festival, this week, no doubt having a fun time. It's an exciting idea, don't you think, people getting together to share their feelings and observations through poetry? It's something we want to encourage here, at Poetry24. So, whether you're a first-timer rhymer or a practiced poet, we want to see your topical poems. No matter where you are in the world, Poetry24 is just an email away.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Martin.

on the morning of yet another
royal wedding i got up late
and unplugged the telly
choosing not to watch bargain hunt
(not rhyming slang) with all
that royal doulton royal worcester
all kinds of chipped and broken royal tat
or some other boring daytime chit chat
about what colour
kate’s royal knickers would be
‘cos i knew that today the media
in a bid to patriotically outdo each other
would be non-stop waving union jacks
as a regressive demonstration
of what a backward nation
we really are
with all that ancient pomp and ceremony
uniforms and royal etiquette
curdling the milk of me cornflakes
and when cutting a slice of bread for toast
it made me think of eating cake
madame guillotine
and finding the money to pay the bills
twenty first century job seeking man
running amok
in the museum of modern england

© Paul Levy

The Royal Wedding
------------------------
P.A. Levy has been published in many magazines, both online and in print, from ‘A cappella Zoo’ to ‘Zygote In My Coffee’, and is a founding member of the Clueless Collective.

I didn’t get an invite to the wedding
and, frankly, it is hard to mask the hurt.
I suppose there isn’t any point in threading
this button on my Marks and Spencer’s shirt.
My present lies beneath the stairs, inert,
(newlyweds cannot have too much bedding)
but, feck them, it’ll stay there gathering dirt
‘cos I didn’t get an invite to the wedding.

The postman brought no invite to the wedding.
Apparently I amn’t on the list.
This was the very thing that I’d been dreading –
being callously and royally dismissed.
Frustration at my absence from their tryst,
like poison, through my psyche has been spreading.
I’m sure my august presence will be missed
by those that got an invite to the wedding.

It seems that I’ve no invite to the wedding.
My diary is empty for that date.
I’d booked a B and B in downtown Reading
beside a nice industrial estate.
The yellow men behind me indicate
the salty trail of tears that I’ve been shedding.
Snubbed, not just by William, but by Kate,
I never got an invite to the wedding.

Did I mention I’ve no invite to the wedding?
But Ryanair will recompense my flight.
My Gatwick ticket’s only fit for shredding
but the airline’s sympathetic to my plight.
Thanks to this right royal oversight,
it isn’t down to London I’ll be heading.
When I get married, they can go and shite
if they think they’ll get an invite to my wedding.

© Peter Goulding

Riffraff at the Royal Wedding but no Tony Blair
----------------------------------------------------------
Peter Goulding works in a warehouse in co. Kildare, Ireland and has bribed editors in four continents to accept his poetry. He has no practical talents whatsoever.

Where's my Prince Charming?
Even when I drop my left shoe
along the stairs
someone just picks it up
and places it back
with it's right one
I should have known
a fairytale wouldn't begin
with a doc marten boot.

Where's my Prince Charming?
Have I left him behind
in my pop-up fairy tale books?
Even when six
I thought the princess
looked a little passive
I wanted to be the one
on the white horse
racing through the woods.

Where's my Prince Charming?
There he sits watching the news
and carrying the heavy bags
in from the Tesco shop
I sigh and look in the mirror
and ask 'Who is the fairest of them all'?
My prince Charming replies:
'You, it's always going to be you'
I am the star of my own fairytale.

© Brigid O'Connor

Royal wedding: Fans camp out at Westminster Abbey
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Brigid O'Connor is an Irish writer. She writes short stories and poetry.
Her work has been broadcast on Irish radio and her stories have been included in anthologies and literary publications.

If not enough of you should drown in mud
To fossilise and let the future know
That you were here, when finally the blood
And flesh of earth is clean of you? E'en so,
Fear not oblivion, for we shall wait
And of your glowing glories testify
To future insects curious of your fate.
Vast as your poisons, we shall never die.

© Philip Challinor

Nuclear waste: Keep out – for 100,000 years
------------------------------------------------------
Philip blogs at 'The Curmudgeon' - He insists, "You'll come for the curses. You'll stay for the mudgeonry." Philip is the author of a number of books.

Syrians suffer,
the revolution defied,
Libyans protected,
by the jets in the sky,
the answers unsettling as to the reasons why,
Libyans valued more than Syrians.

© Douglas Polk

Syria: Eyewitness accounts
---------------------------------
Douglas is a poet from Nebraska. He has published three books of poetry; In My Defense, The Defense Rests, and On Appeal.

Martin left me minding the Poetry24 shop this week and, as I have cheerfully informed him this morning, 'nothing bad happened' in his absence.

It's been a curious week here, with unlikely subjects sparking poems: Kat Mortensen's Jelly Bean Queen set the quirky tone, and Philip Challinor's edgy Pissed Off was an interesting piece for Easter week. I was also delighted to receive two submissions from popular blogger Fran 'Being Me' Hill - Recipe for a few weeks off work on the demise of the Best Before date and 21 April 2011 (which was the date of the future 'Judgement Day' in the Terminator films). I was thinking about the end of life as we know it, too, with my climate change poem for Earth Day: Dry Weather.

What do we learn from all of this? That it's worth looking at the smaller, quirky stories for inspiration too... and that we're always happy to look at broader issues if you can link it to a recent news article - so keep those submissions coming! Let's have some more quirky takes on the Royal Wedding, or surprise us with something completely unexpected.

But don't forget that all-important news link.

Clare