Poetry on the Hoof: Resistance isn’t Futile

It was National Poetry Day on 2 October, so we’re celebrating it over a long weekend of irreverent, irritated and irate doggerel! Here’s ‘Resistance isn’t Futile ‘ to give you some encouragement on a Saturday if you’re faced with the prospect of never ending life admin chores when you could be out with your mates for those never ending Saturday nights.

I’m particularly remembering the work of Stuart Bastik: artist, thinker and occasional poet who sadly died in the summer of 2024. I worked with him and Maddi Nicholson (co-founders and co-artistic directors of Art Gene) during what became a transformational period in my life. As their project manager for many events, walks and talks across Cumbria, his approach to his life and art was sometimes engaging, often challenging but always unforgettable. ‘Resistance’ is the doff of my cap to one of life’s unique life forces.

Resistance isn’t Futile is inspired by the Borg of Star Trek infamy.  The Borg would take immense amount of pleasure telling their hapless victims that ‘resistance was futile’ and that they just better buckle down and be happy with their lot. Even if it did mean colonisation, subjugation and excruciating humiliation.

It seems we hear a lot in our daily lives why things can’t happen – whether this be in a street, in a business, in a school: in all sorts of places from all sorts of people.  Hearing ‘no’ so often suggests that resistance to any kind of positive social change is pointless: and in some quarters, the Borg are alive and kicking in the most unlikeliest of places.

People who tended to say ‘yes’ are were more likely to be people like Stuart. He inspired many of us to say ‘yes’ to the challenges, opportunities and sheer wonder of Barrow, its history and relationships with the natural (and industrial) worlds.  He reminded us that resistance to the ‘no’ wasn’t futile, that difficulties could be overcome and that apathy was a choice, not a biological or economic given. This poem summarises the aspiration of when faced with so many ‘no-es’, so many reasons not to do things, we need to find the ‘yes’ in a situation.  If we can find the ‘yes’, we can transform ourselves, our families, our communities and the world at large.

This piece was part of Art Gene’s 8 Words for Barrow-in-Furness competition during the first national lockdown in 2020. Inspired by 8 empty sky blue billboards in the town, Art Gene invited people from Barrow and Furness to enter their own suggestions for phrases to fill the space. From over 180 entries, 20 competition winners were selected by Stuart and Maddi Nicholson, and were presented in a socially distanced, outdoor artwork created by Maddi outside Art Gene HQ on Abbey Road in Barrow in 2022.

You can read ‘Resistance is Futile’ in our poetry anthology, There’s no such Things as an Englishman’