John Agard

Nothing to Declare

Un-jet-lagged, travelling light,

neither hero nor anti-hero, 

among arrivals at Heathrow

there walked a little green man

nowhere near incognito.

Of course, airport officials

had never been prepared

for a little green arrival –

a miracle of the spectrum

with nothing to declare.

Just two luminous fingers crossed

for the sake of the cosmos.

*

The Little Green Man Meets the Press

Would it be politically incorrect to address

you as ‘greenie?’

We say of all green types,

the people who are not yet ripe.

How does it feel to be an ethnic

minority of one?

I have many trees for allies

and so feel multiplied.

*

A Debate

A black man and a white man

like two philosophical mates

are engaged in a debate.

What has only one syllable,

no eye, no ear, no tongue,

yet is God’s class act creation?

Night, says the black man.

It has to be night

that inspires rest and mystery. 

Day, says the white man.

It has to be day

that announces the sun’s glory.

Grass, says the little green man,

adding his bit to the debate.

Grass must be God’s masterpiece.

Grass? laugh the others

who fancied themselves scholars.

A masterpiece to be trodden on!

Grass, repeats the little green man.

A sun bed for the living.

A duvet for the dead.

*

Getting It Politically Correct

Are those black

or non-white clouds

gathered in a huddle?

Is that white

or non-black snow

waiting to be shovelled?

The little green man

keeps such questions

to himself

preferring to jump

the fences of language

on ladders of love

not wanting to choose

between the non-white raven

and the non-black dove.

11 Nothing to Declare

12 Curtains

13 The Way of Maps 

14 Everyday Rituals

15 Other-Heart-from-Afar

16 Heart

17 Full of Noises

18 Anonymous Flora

19 Amidst a Multitude of Vegetables

20 The Little Green Man Eats His First Apple

21 The Little Green Man Addresses Bread

22 Instead of a Postcard

23 The Way Not to Go

24 The Speech of Monuments

26 Daring to Cross

27 A Case of Mistaken Identity

28 The Little Green Man Meets the Press

29 A Debate

30 Ticking Boxes

31 Embracing Glorious Uncertainty

32 Breaking the Ice

33 Overnight Shampoo

34 Throwing Caution

35 Bookworm

36 A Bonsai Moment

37 The Little Green Man Goes Pub Crawling

38 Six Takes on the Little Green Man

39 Beware of the Door!

40 Meeting Hedgehog

41 Getting It Politically Correct

42 Letter to the Lexicographer

43 Algebra of the Epidermis

44 Patriot or Not

45 The Little Green Man Addresses a Leaf

46 Keeping Abreast of a Stone

47 Question Time Is Running Out of Time, So One Final Question from the Little Green Gentleman in the Back Row

48 Not Lost in Translation

49 On the Button

50 Looking on the Green Side

51 Keen to Give Blood

52 The Little Green Man at Carnival

53 The Little Green Man Goes on a Blind Date

56 Misgivings from the Far Right

57 The Little Green Man’s Nativity

58 Thought for the Day

59 And The Word Was Made Flesh

60 Witness

‘A unique and energetic force in contemporary British poetry, John Agard's poems combine acute social observation, puckish wit and a riotous imagination to thrilling effect.' – Ben Wilkinson 

‘His poems are direct and arresting, playful, full of startling imagery, and are hilarious, passionate and erotic as often as they are political – often managing to be all these things at once.' – Maura Dooley 

'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]

'John Agard’s most ambitious book yet and a wholly original take on the endless wars of the 21st century… It’s a clever and entertaining book, with wisdom accompanying the perplexity.' – Andy Croft, Morning Star [on Playing the Ghost of Maimonides]

‘…a forward-facing collection that tackles the big issues of war, religious intolerance, and how we relate to each other as neighbours inhabiting the same fragile planet.’ - Lisa Kelly, Magma  [on Playing the Ghost of Maimonides]

'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