Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay, acclaimed poet and playwright, was born to an Ethiopian mother and brought up by a white foster family and in children鈥檚 homes. His poems have been described as 鈥渟ongs of the street鈥.
Lemn has just returned from a mini residency in Arizona. He writes a regular column for Poetry Review, and will be the writer in residence for 2007 at The Royal Festival hall. He is currently judging the John Lewllyn Rhys Prize for literature for The Book Trust, and is soon to present one of Radio 4鈥檚 Fact to Fiction programmes.
Here are the poems Lemn performed on today's show:
1st poem
(in this poem I tried to reverse the clich茅 regarding a picture speaking a thousand words while at the same time introducing Saturday live and radio as a place where words speak pictures.)
Words speaks a billion pictures.
They say one picture speaks one thousand words
But one thousand words speaks one billion pictures
So the exponential blossoms and from here we derive
Two words, Two Billion Pictures. Saturday live.
Second poem: Road Kill
The idea of apartheid is road kill
We鈥檒l skin it we鈥檒l skin it
The idea of apartheid is road kill
We鈥檒l gut it we鈥檒l gut it
The idea of apartheid is road kill
We鈥檒l cut it we鈥檒l cut it
The idea of apartheid is road kill
We鈥檒l cook it we鈥檒l cut it
The idea of apartheid is road kill
We鈥檒l skin it, gut it, cut it and cook it.
The idea of apartheid is road kill
We鈥檒l halt it we鈥檒l halt it
The idea of apartheid is road kill
We鈥檒l salt it we鈥檒l salt it
The idea of apartheid is road kill
We鈥檒l beet it we鈥檒l beat it
The idea of apartheid is road kill
We鈥檒l eat it we鈥檒l eat it
The idea of apartheid is road kill
We鈥檒l halt it, we鈥檒l salt it, beat it and eat it
And then we鈥檒l eat snook and bhunni chow
Beneath the blooming jacaranda Tree
For this food here and now
Is free, is free, is free
3rd poem
(In this poem I wanted to use one line about The Horse Whisperer and its opposite line about chess. I had to research the names of chess moves and the story of the whisperer. At the same time I liked the idea of chess as battle and also the idea that the horse whisperer helps young people in their battles. I tried to match these two elements so the poem鈥檚 narrative would be unified by the subject of a person fighting to do what they want to do rather than what they are conditioned to do.)
Moves
Horses for courses of course is easy to say
The opening gambit. The Guard. The beginning. The Play.
But the horse whisperer whispers it鈥檚 instinct alerted
The Kings Indian defense rises 鈥 attack diverted
But the whisperer listens to the spirits sing
And the knight rears and cheallenges the king
For all the sacred cows should be charged at rate
Too many of us fail and fall in the stall of stall mate
Listen to the whispers of spirit and there at the core
Think like a king or queen. Open and explore
Read more of Lemn poems
This poem 'Move' is great! As a craniosacral therapist whos work is all about listening to our innate healing life forces that can become odscured by disease and stressors. This poems make clear that we are not a diseaes, illness, injury, condition and all the storey these can create and enforce. That undrneath these there is somthing that is ready to fight and knows what is right, and if listened to will find is true path towards health.
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