Linton Kwesi Johnson: ‘I certainly did not see myself as an angry young black poet’

The poet and activist’s life in verse has chronicled black British history as it was being made. He talks about remaining hopeful, integrity, and taking 20 years to find his voice

The new Penguin edition of Linton Kwesi Johnson’s Selected Poems comprises three previously unpublished verses, the most recent of which is titled Di First Lackdoun. Written in August 2021 in his signature style – London-Jamaican patois rendered as it is spoken – it recounts a walk he took in his local park in Brixton as the long weeks of the first winter Covid gave way to spring.

people juss skattah like littah
all ovah di clean-cut carpets of green
redeemin ert an sky an sunlite

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Rcrs3gy

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