A sandy place, a recipe for a nation and a Christmas plea: three poems by Benjamin Zephaniah

We Refugees

I come from a musical place Where they shoot me for my song And my brother has been tortured By my brother in my land.

I come from a beautiful place Where they hate my shade of skin They don’t like the way I pray And they ban free poetry.

I come from a beautiful place Where girls cannot go to school There you are told what to believe And even young boys must grow beards.

I come from a great old forest I think it is now a field And the people I once knew Are not there now.

We can all be refugees Nobody is safe, All it takes is a mad leader Or no rain to bring forth food, We can all be refugees We can all be told to go, We can be hated by someone For being someone.

I come from a beautiful place Where the valley floods each year And each year the hurricane tells us That we must keep moving on. I come from an ancient place All my family were born there And I would like to go there But I really want to live.

I come from a sunny, sandy place Where tourists go to darken skin And dealers like to sell guns there I just can’t tell you what’s the price.

I am told I have no country nowI am told I am a lie I am told that modern history books May forget my name.

We can all be refugees Sometimes it only takes a day, Sometimes it only takes a handshake Or a paper that is signed. We all came from refugees Nobody simply just appeared, Nobody’s here without a struggle, And why should we live in fear Of the weather or the troubles? We all came here from somewhere.

The British

Take some Picts, Celts and Silures And let them settle, Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.

Remove the Romans after approximately 400 yearsAdd lots of Norman French to some Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.

Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans, Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese, Vietnamese and Sudanese.

Then take a blend of Somalians, Sri Lankans, Nigerians And Pakistanis, Combine with some Guyanese And turn up the heat.

Sprinkle some fresh Indians, Malaysians, Bosnians, Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with some Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Japanese And Palestinians Then add to the melting pot.

Leave the ingredients to simmer.

As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish Binding them together with English.

Allow time to be cool.

Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future, Serve with justice And enjoy.

Note: All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste.

Warning: An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all.

Talking Turkeys

Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmasCos’ turkeys just wanna hav funTurkeys are cool, turkeys are wickedAn every turkey has a Mum.Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas,Don’t eat it, keep it alive,It could be yu mate, an not on your plateSay, Yo! Turkey I’m on your side.I got lots of friends who are turkeysAn all of dem fear christmas time,Dey wanna enjoy it, dey say humans destroyed itAn humans are out of dere mind,Yeah, I got lots of friends who are turkeysDey all hav a right to a life,Not to be caged up an genetically made upBy any farmer an his wife.

Turkeys just wanna play reggaeTurkeys just wanna hip-hopCan yu imagine a nice young turkey saying,“I cannot wait for de chop”,Turkeys like getting presents, dey wanna watch christmas TV,Turkeys hav brains an turkeys feel painIn many ways like yu an me.

I once knew a turkey called … TurkeyHe said “Benji explain to me please,Who put de turkey in christmasAn what happens to christmas trees?”,I said “I am not too sure turkeyBut it’s nothing to do wid Christ MassHumans get greedy an waste more dan need beAn business men mek loadsa cash”.

Be nice to yu turkey dis christmasInvite dem indoors fe sum greensLet dem eat cake an let dem partakeIn a plate of organic grown beans,Be nice to yu turkey dis christmasAn spare dem de cut of de knife,Join Turkeys United an dey’ll be delightedAn yu will mek new friends “FOR LIFE”.