I hope you are angry. I hope you are furious, frantic, enraged, seeing red. You need it to be able to listen to “A Constellation of Sorrows”, a new spoken word/ poetry accompanied by music by Welsh poet Patrick Jones. If you are not, then maybe you will be angry at the end, but that would mean that either you have been living under a rock for the last 15 months or that your heart is a piece of ice. There are some people out there who will laugh, or not understand, or do not care, but those people will be judged by history as kindly as those who enabled the rise of the Third Reich. We need the anger, we need our fury at the injustice, at the genocide that is currently happening in Palestine. The genocide, let’s not be afraid to say it, is committed by the authoritarian, far right government of Israel, led by Benjamin Netanyahu – a war criminal wanted by The International Court of Justice. These are the times we live in. Israeli prime minister is a wanted man, and another criminal (convicted on 34 counts for fraud) will become the 47th President of The United States. This is why we need our anger – cause nothing of this is normal. Yet, here we are.
“A Constellation Of Sorrows” cover by Isabella Rosa Griffiths
Before we start, I don’t want to hear people throwing accusations of antisemitism at me. I will not let anybody do this. Criticizing Israel is not being antisemitic, despite Israeli propaganda trying to say otherwise. No man, no country leader, no politician – NOBODY is beyond criticism. Nobody is also beyond law, although it feels hard to believe it these days. I truly wish our justice system was just and swift – I wouldn’t be having to type this article. It is sadly not, but I will not allow my voice to be silenced.
Let me tell you something about myself. I come from a family of Ukrainian and Polish Jews. My family members were brutally murdered in camps. My grandfather (who passed away in 2017 at the age of 93) spent years as a slave labourer in Austria and Germany, surviving by an absolute miracle. My great-grandfather was arrested without a trial and sentenced to 20 years in a gulag in Siberia and he never returned home. We are still looking for him and other family members. My relatives were at some point forced to secularize to survive. For people like me, descendants of those who died in the Holocaust, never again truly means never again. Not then and not now. Not in Europe and not in Palestine. Since the beginning of the genocide, cause this is not an Israel-Hamas war as press would like you to believe, I have been called Ashkenazi Jew, like this is some kind of insult or something dirty. I’m proud to say I come from anti-Zionist family from the Eastern European lineage of Jews. Europe has always been our home. I was raised in Poland, about 60 km from Auschwitz. We look at the plight of Palestinian people with terror and anger. Those who are trying to silence us will not succeed.
Myself and my twin sister Malicia, have been following Patrick Jones for decades. We first learnt about his poetry from our friend Rebecca during our Archive of Pain days (a chatroom for Manic Street Preachers back in the 90’s) after she gave us a copy of his book. His heart and principles have always been in the right place and it’s great to see him taking a stand with “A Constellation Of Sorrows”. Very, very few people spoke out about Palestine and dared to criticize Israel for their actions, but Patrick has been very vocal from the beginning, especially on Twitter.
“A Constellation of Sorrows” contains 13 tracks, that’s nearly 37 minutes of music and spoken word. The album was originally released on 12th of June last year in digital form, a physical copy on CD was issued on 10th of January 2025 through Richard Rose‘s REPEAT Records. My copy arrived earlier today on the 16th of January and this is when I’m reviewing it.
Patrick invited a lot of guests to this project. While he is responsible for all words and recitations, he is joined by legendary Celtic folk singer/songwriter Martyn Joseph, Jilliene Sellner, educator and composer, Palestinian oud player Salih Hassan and others. The album was mixed and mastered by Sam Marsh and its cover was designed by young Welsh artist, Isabella Rosa Griffiths.
Patrick and Martyn Joseph visited Palestine a couple of years ago and their trip had an enormous effect on them as musicians and poets. I’m sure they were thinking of creating a poetry project influenced by their trip upon their return, but recent events turned it into something much different.
“A Constellation of Sorrows” is a small act of defiance and solidarity with the Palestinian people who have been subjected to so much death, destruction, pain and oppression” says Patrick in his PR note attached to the album. “It reflects on my time spent in Palestine in June 2023 which I visited with Martyn Joseph and his Let Yourself Trust, led by the Amos Trust. The tracks attempt to bear witness to Israel’s war against the civilians of Gaza since October 7th. It is an immersive experience of truth telling made up of soundscapes, audio samples, music and poetry that acts as a mirror of the past year, and the past 75 years of occupation and apartheid. It sings of beauty, resilience and hope, but also marks the evil atrocities, the blatant lies and gaslighting of Israeli politicians and the rabid indifference of western governments”.
The album opens with a composition titled “After Niemöller“, referring of course to the famous poem by Martin Niemöller “First they came…”. In Patrick’s version, there are no communists, no unions or socialists. Their places are taken by hospitals, the old, the sick that are eliminated one by one with the excuses that we sadly know from the newspaper’s headlines. If the first poem feels like a punch to your guts, let me tell you it gets harder and harder as you listen. By the time you reach “The Last Walk of Aaron Bushnell” (number 7 on the list), you will be weeping. This poem is absolutely heartbreaking.
There are two compositions that especially stand out. First one is “The Heart is a Security Risk”, a poem describing Patrick’s thoughts after having his luggage checked by the Israeli forces at the airport. The poem is accompanied by an oud, a short neck and pear shaped Middle Eastern lute played by Salih Hassan. It has a delicate oriental sound, simple and beautiful. The other one is the closing number “Khalas” that means “enough” in Arabic. It’s the longest composition on the album standing at more than 6 minutes. I’m not sure if Patrick is aware, but there is an Israeli-Palestinian band by the same name, making metal music about peaceful coexistence. Maybe he is, as this track features a heavy guitar background. You will find here samples from different speeches, chants and a very long monologue narrated by Hassan – thank you so much Patrick for the extra info.
Please pay special attention to “Masters Of Misery” – it is probably my favourite poem (if you can have favourites on an album like this), also interesting sound effects with echo and Patrick sounds like he is narrating a news story from an anti-bomb shelter. Another track, “Number 678 (Into the vortex of the Void)” that probably refers to the number of Israeli violations against media and freedom of speech in Palestine, is also worth mentioning. It contains samples from several parliamentary speeches, American and British ones that alludes to many promises made that were broken by complicit governments. Please note, that the author of this review, holds Biden and Starmer’s administration accountable for the genocide and suffering. Numerous calls made by liberal MP’s to stop the arming of Israel have been continuously ignored.
Patrick Jones photographed by Lucy Purrington
Despite everything, “A Constellation of Sorrows” is an album of peace. It details the crimes, suffering and injustice to let everyone know that without a lasting ceasefire, peace talks and liberation of Palestine, this atrocity will continue.
It is a call to our morality, our humanity to stop and think about others. All sales will be donated to the UN Gaza humanitarian fund – so please support the cause by purchasing a copy. It costs just a tenner plus 2 pounds of postal fees – frankly cheaper than a coffee.
“A Constellation of Sorrows” speaks loudly and clearly when other artists do not. There will be a concert on the 18th of January, a spoken word album launch at Tangled Parrott in Swansea. Patrick will perform alongside singer/songwriter Angharad and Tom Emlyn. Entry at 7:30. You can buy tickets at: https://wegottickets.com/event/638293
Patrick Jones online:
https://patrickjones3.bandcamp.com/album/a-constellation-of-sorrows
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Jones_(poet)
https://www.patrick-jones.info/
https://x.com/heretic101
Reviews:
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/butcher-bastards
https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/new-poetry-january-2025-len-pennie-refaat-alareer/
Further read:
https://nation.cymru/culture/on-being-a-poet-in-wales/
https://poetrywales.co.uk/patrick-jones-how-i-wrote-this-guitar-silences-fascists/
https://www.swansea.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-profiles/patrick-jones/
Rita Dabrowicz
Indieterria 
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