![]() The latter will tell you that it is the great British Indian curry that binds us together these people are out to carve out a new idea of Britishness and feel hindered by those whose only purpose is to preserve the past. The title of British means many things to many people some choose to remain forever nostalgic for its “days of former greatness” when Shakespeare was “Top of the Pops” and the sun never set on the empire, whilst for others it’s about the melting pot, bursting with vitality and smiling multiculturalism. All of the above represent an idea of Britain we pick what we want to represent us depending on what type of “subject” we are. Well, to date, Britain has 21% of all major Oscars 13% of television programmes shown at peak times worldwide are made in Britain our pop music keeps conquering America everyone knows of William Shakespeare and the Brontë Sisters, but what of the Teletubbies? Well they are one of the biggest single export products ever. But Britain is not just a collection of unused coalmines or museums, what of British culture? The same fate has fallen upon coalmines all over Britain. In fact many of those coalmines were closed down in the 1980s and they have now become tourist attractions, and a chosen few coal miners who were once doomed to a life of unemployment are now paid to show you what they used to do. I have always admired the splendour of the Welsh Valleys it seems to me this area represents both the picturesque and industrial side by side, for it is here that many of the nation’s coalmines are to be found. The quaint beauty of the Lake District continues to inspire poets, and the grandeur of the Scottish mountains is famous all over the world. But Britain is not just a collection of cities. Above all the capital city shines magnificent through its pollution it is amongst the heavyweights of cities: here it is estimated that over three hundred languages are spoken. The same can be said for many of its towns they may not have received the title of “city” from the Crown or be the “seat of a bishop”, but they still have the attitude and the rhythm of the city. Its cities are havens for the young they pulsate to the music of the world, and though the skies may be grey for much of the year the streets are coloured by its people who now talk about “raving” just as much as they talk about the weather. It has the “mother of all parliaments”, its inhabitants enjoy “free speech” and the right to vote in open elections and it is so confident that it doesn’t need a written constitution. ![]() It is a nation of shopkeepers, aristocrats, farmers and animal lovers, all at the same time. I have also included poems that started life as commissions: ‘What If’ was originally commissioned by BBC Television, ‘What Stephen Lawrence Has Taught Us’ by Independent Television News (ITN) for Channel Four News (and afterwards printed in The Guardian), ‘Carnival Days’ by The Post Office, ‘The London Breed’ by The Museum of London, and ‘Heroes’ is one of three poems commissioned by Sheffield City Council and carved into buildings in Rockingham Street in the centre of Sheffield.Īlthough you can find me on various Internet sites, there is one genuine Benjamin Zephaniah site: WHAT AM I GOING ON ABOUT?īritain is a wonderful place. With one or two exceptions the poems in this collection were written between the years 19. The administrators, the barristers, the clients, all helped to make my time with them the best term I have ever served. I would like to thank The Poetry Society for thinking up such an interesting residency and for putting up with my unorthodox approach to it, and everyone at Tooks who made me so welcome and managed to endure a year of me following them to court, questioning them, and loitering with intent. Other poems from that residency not included here were written for performance only. ![]() Poems in this book written during that period and inspired by the residency are: ‘To Ricky Reel’, ‘To Michael Menser’, ‘Having a Word’, ‘Appeal Dismissed’, ‘Chant of a Homesick Nigga’, ‘I Neva Shot De Sheriff’, ‘Adultery’, ‘Two Dozen Babylon’, ‘Knowing Me’, ‘Derry Sunday’, and ‘The One Minutes Of Silence’. The residency was sponsored by The Poetry Society and although it was officially scheduled to run for 48 days I lost count of the days but spread my time there over a year. In February 2000 I started a residency at Tooks barristers’ chambers in London.
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