About the Book
Blurb
This is my little black book of rage and pain towards my African roots and white society. I'm not on anyone's side, as an African born, Black British immigrant, I think everyone is equally problematic. As such, I had some race-related things to get off my chest, so I put them into poetry again. Here are 28 poems on my 'melanated madness', about how I continue to love myself as a person from a self-hating culture (African), that grew up in a racist society (British). Excerpt poem, 'Stop playing with me 'fore I turn you into a poem' (page 44): Family, society,
The evil deep inside of me.
On death, and life, and fantasy,
I write it all to find some peace.
Loving you, my soul to keep,
Drugs, and dreams, and nothing cheap.
The thoughts that make it hard to sleep,
The blood I bleed, the ghosts I see. The waters, skies, plants, and trees,
Kids, beasts, my favourite beings.
Teasing you and sexy things,
All your wants I turn to needs. A silenced voice that rarely speaks,
Just in art or satin sheets.
Sometimes it gets so hard to breathe,
Till I pop a (pen) cap, and then relief... Contents
13. Why are you so angry?
16. African Child
19. Ebony
22. Bantu Princess
25. Asante Sana, Baba naMai
28. Protect black women
31. The black woman archytype
35. Jigaboo
38. King/Queen already
41. Lost and Found
44. Stop playing with me 'fore I turn you into a poem
47. Melenated Madness
50. The West, you do the most
53. Two can play that game
57. Refugee
60. At least it's not jail or crack
63. Freedom
66. Don't dread these locs
69. Ambition: the cure of the poison
72. Tough love
75. Cypher
78. Kill them before they grow
81. Black power(lessness)
84. For ghetto kids
87. Save me
90. Cypher 2
93. A King in Plato's Cave
96. Growing up in inner city London: tales from my childhood
