Time for a post after a hiatus as I traveled over the Pond to visit family in the UK immediately post Brexit. I'm still processing the experience after talking (mostly listening) to so many people with so many different takes on this monumental and controversial decision made by the popular vote.
I'll be posting more on my travels in the next few weeks, though we're the midst of moving house and everything is a bit topsy turvy.
My journalism college friend Bev whom I visited in Wanstead, handed me a print out of a poem by newspaper man, playwright, poet, short-story and children's writer John Agard. This super talented artist was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1949. He moved to the UK in the late 70s to become a touring lecturer for the Commonwealth Institute, traveling to schools throughout the UK to promote a better understanding of Caribbean culture. In 1993, John was appointed Writer in Residence at the South Bank Centre, London and became Poet in Residence at the BBC in London.
It felt to me, after more than my fair share of pots of tea, scones, jam and clotted cream, that his immigrant voice in his popular "Alternative Anthem" poem continues to capture the spirit of the people and how they move forward as a nation in the wake of the decision to break away from the European Union.
"Put the kettle on
Put the kettle on
It is the British answer
to Armageddon.
Never mind taxes are rise
Never mind trains are late
One thing you can be sure of
and that's the kettle, mate.
It's not whether you lose
It's not whether you win
It's whether or not you've plugged the kettle in."
John Agard — for full poem click here
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