Indigenous Rising

The black poet who writes about his or her own daily experiences – some of them negative – faces this constant risk, of being nervously applauded but silently dismissed. This is part of the anxiety of being a black poet in Britain. Yeah yeah yeah – the black poet imagines the audience saying — we’ve heard this song and dance already. Boohoo! Grow up! Get over yourself! The anxiety is sometimes a quite useful one, for every poem has its world and its history of clichés that must be recognized, avoided, and then made new.