John Agard

Wall Speaks


I’m there to keep insiders in, outsiders out.
My silence speaks volumes on behalf of border
between nation and nation, other and other.

The dividing god line that says US–Mexico,
Iraq–Iran, Palestine–Israel, Austria–Slovenia,
China–North Korea, North Korea–South Korea…

But should I, Wall, carry on with this litany
that spells out the meaning of us and them?
And to which do I owe my loyalty?

I simply stay mute. Play my humble part.
Be the guard dog that does not wag or bark.
Uncomplaining. Just there. Standing my ground.

But the winds of history have taken their toll.
The centuries creep into my every crevice.
Even my barbed-wired head has seen better days.

For too long I’ve given stalwart service.
Been there to stop the barbarians in their tracks.
Now brick by crumbling brick, I await what next.

*

Diversity in de Market
(calypso poem)


(spoken)
To learn how dis ting diversity does operate
I went by Brixton market to investigate,
how de fruit and veg dem does integrate.
Ah saw Apple and Mango conversing cosily
Ripe Plantain had no quarrel with Broccoli.
Aubergine don’t bear grudge ’gainst Piri-Piri.
I was impressed how Pineapple spoke sweetly
and when Red Pepper responded discreetly
I knew de fruit and veg dem could teach a nation
de secret of harmonious cohabitation.
So if you want learn ’bout dis ting diversity,
observe Butternut Squash and de little Lychee

(sung /calypso tempo)
        In de fruit and veg market it was plain to see
        de red yellow purple green live in harmony.
        Yes, fruit and veg dem show each other respect,
        no, Cucumber never raise a finger to Courgette,
        no, Cucumber never raise a finger to Courgette

(spoken)
Then I saw Saltfish chatting up Chorizo
like de two o’ dem does talk de same lingo.
Gammon and Mackerel held no grievance.
Black Pudding and Salami struck up alliance.
So if you want learn ’bout social etiquette
just study de ways of Oxtail Veal Brisket

(sung/calypso tempo)
        In de fish and meat market too it was plain to see
        de black white pink brown also live in harmony.
        Yes, fish and meat dem show each other respect,
        no, Ah never see a fight between two fillet yet,
        man, Ah never see a fight between two fillet yet.

*

We Mosquitoes
(calypso poem)


We mosquitoes we don’t like to boast
we consider ourselves these islands’ hosts,
we are original colonists
not by the sword by the proboscis.
We been around for millions of years,
and we ain’t going nowhere, have no fear.
The ancient Egyptians tried fishing net,
they tried frankincense, we ain’t extinct yet

        Join in dis mosquito chorus
        buzz like you is one of us
        buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz
        buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz

We like to bite democratically,
black, white, brown, we bite equally.
We don’t agree with discrimination
we bite every pigmentation.
No, we mosquitoes we not prejudiced,
you could be a mister, you could be a miss,
one drop of blood is all we ask,
we ain’t asking to fill a thermos flask

        Join in dis mosquito chorus
        buzz like you is one of us
        buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz
        buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz

Mosquito biting high, mosquito biting low,
from yuh head down to yuh Tobago.
Mosquito biting high, mosquito biting low,
from yuh armpit to yuh archipelago.
Dinosaur Dodo and dem gone
to a place called oblivion,
so we say bring on de pesticide
we mosquitoes have God on we side

        Join in dis mosquito chorus
        buzz like you is one of us
        buzz buzz buzz buz buzz buzz
        buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz

*

Ice Speaks


Must I remind short-memoried humankind
of a once-upon-a-woolly-mammoth time,
when my permafrost embraced continents?

My ghostly glaciers extending their grimace
to white-out a Neanderthal dawn
and do my bit for what’s called extinction.

But let me say, I’m not all doom and gloom.
No, I do have my chilled-out moments.
Like when I become the crystal sediments

cushioned in your cocktail glass,
the chorus in your lemonade,
the loud castaway in your rum.

Now it saddens me to see talking primates
skating their span of time on thin ice
(to borrow a common idiom)

for when the day of reckoning comes
and my melting cap doffs its sub-zero self,
prepare your high-rise stone to weep upon

my lap of water rising by the hourglass.
But under my hard edges I’m a real softie.
For what are freak floods and tsunamis

if not my tears returning home to roost?
Yes, my leviathan grief seeking out the crevices
of your fading green. So disturb my frozen sleep

and I, Ice, will release the weeping god of me.


 

Love in a Sceptred Isle
    11     Love in a Sceptred Isle

Navigating Continents
    35     Flag Speaks
    39     Windrush Postscript
    40     A Citizen’s Tale
    41     Doing My Bit for Pomp and Pageantry
    42     Gents of the Gentry
    43     With the Accent on Accent
    46     The Discharge of the Un-light Brigade
    48     How Delroy Dee Lost His Job at English Heritage House
    51     Wall Speaks
    52     Diversity in de Market
    53     Potato Speaks
    55     Biscuit Speaks
    56     Meeting Old Father Thames
    59     Pythias the Greek in Britannia
    62     The Migration of Coconut Water
    66     We Mosquitoes
    68     Devon Jamboy Frederiksted, de Last of de Danish West Indians
    71     Ice Speaks
    72     The Murmur of the Forest in an Adjective
    74     Saluting Derek
    76     Walt
    78     Dear Michael
    80     A Farewell to Poet James Berry’s Hat
    81     Gone But Still Spring Cleaning
    83     Three Siblings of the Word
    85     The Creature Known as Michael Rosen
    87     Namaste Mr Lear
    89     My Little Guy, Says Edith Fawkes
    90     Monsieur Voltaire Commits a Faux Pas in 18th-century England
    93     Glorious Uncertainty in de Bedroom
    96     Bards in White Flannels
    97     Bowdlerising the Bard
    98     Viagra in Me Cocoa
    100     Erasmus in England, 1499
    103     The Fool’s Yule
    104     In Your Hands

The Plants Are Staying Put
    109     This Thing Called Gardening
    115     Weeds
    117     The Plants Are Staying Put
    118     Lewes to London Post-lockdown

Casanova the Philosopher
    123     Casanova the Philosopher

 

'Many of us know his poetry through its popularity in schools, with its  delightful mixture of subversion and levity... but Playing the Ghost of Maimonides is far from a children's book... This is a complex, adult text that grapples with sectarian extremism, the Torah and Koran, humankind's perpetual "tribal Iliad"... But it is also an attempt to recalibrate spiritual poetry to contain our new reality' - Clare Pollard, The Poetry Review

'John Agard's first book since he finally won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is typically cosmopolitan, with one eye on the past and the other on the present...readers – especially schoolteachers and their pupils – tend to love his work... This thought-provoking, puckish, tender book will not disappoint them.' – Rory Waterman, Times Literary Supplement, on Travel Light, Travel Dark