Art. Work.

Look at the artwork
There is skill
There is discipline
On display
There’s a show
That must go on
Come what may
There’s funding
There’s advertising
The pop
Of a champagne party
There’s power
There’s privilege
There’s a crowd that’s arty

But think on this
When ‘You are obliged
To look at this
Painting
For at least
Ten minutes
So that you
Can appear
Intellectual’
While you’re hanging on someone’s every word
Think on this
It’s the unsung
Who cleaned
Who secured
Who properly ensured
That this and thousands like it
Happened at all

It’s not an abstract thought
To express some gratitude
To display some praise
To pay humanly
To treat with grace
Those who allow us
The impression
That it’s just the ‘genius’
That’s clapped and papped
And lauded revered
And reviewed and consumed
And hung on the wall
Let me make this clear
It’s the unsung
Who really put it there
It’s the unsung
Who deserve the applause
It’s the unsung
Who we fight for
Or there’d be no
Art at all

Mark Coverdale

There was a contribution from Poetry on the Picket Line at the opening event for PCS National Gallery exhibition at TUC Congress House at the end of July. It's the dispute that we started off on and the struggle continues. The exhibition is on until 10 August.