This book is a collection of poems on British racism and especially on the New Cross fire in 1981. This event led to protests and the birth of the Black People’s Day of Action that generated even more racism. Jay Bernard writes on these events in parallel with the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Windrush scandal, and Brexit all three happening very close to one another. I listened to Jay Bernard reading and even singing a few of their poems whilst going through the 31 days of the “Guardian’s Feed Your Soul”, the experience is more powerful than just reading the poems. But these are touching, painful, and it hurts to feel someone else’s suffering.
“I feel – I feel like I have to hold on – and say – and say –
I don’t want to die in this country – let me die with my grandmother –
I want to be rotted by the sun –
and I want her shadow to fall along my body –
and I want to be shaded by her grief –
and I want the dogs to hanker for my bones –
I want to be eaten by worms and become an ackee tree –
lord, I said – I said it in such a whisper
I could have put the ground to sleep -“
Contents
Arrival / Ark / Patois / Harbour / Songbook / Clearing / + / – / Kitchen / Proof / Window / Duppy / Hiss / Washing / Stone / Apple / Songbook II / Pem-People / Pace / Tympanum / Ha-my-ca / Kombucha / Peg / Pride / Sentence / Ark II / Chemical / Blank / Baccy / Losers / Flowers