Welcome Salman

I think you'd find that Wm Blake was a radical for now

L

----- Original Message -----
From: "Salman Shaheen" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2004 9:19 PM
Subject: Hello


> Hello, I'm Salman, and was introduced to this list by Rupert. I'm awful at
> doing introductions on these kinds of things. I can never think of what to
> say at the time, and then I think of a million things I should have said
> later on. Oh well, here goes...
>
> I'm 19, and a student from Beccles in Suffolk. As fortune would have it, I
> was named after Salman Rushdie, and I've been writing for as long as I can
> remember. Thankfully I haven't got a Fatwah hanging over me! I'm mainly
> into writing prose, articles, short stories, and I'm working on a novel. I
> also do a lot of poetry though, and with my studies hanging over me, it's
> all I end up having time for at the moment.
>
> In terms of poetical influences, I would say that Blake is a personal
> favourite of mine. I think of him as a radical for his time, especially
> with poems such as "The Little Black Boy" being written during the height
> of the slave trade. "For I am black, but O my soul is white!" Being half
> Pakistani myself, and having experienced racism, this poem has special
> significance for me. I'm also very keen on some of the war time poets,
> especially Wilfred Owen and Siegried Sassoon. More recently, I've found
> myself having a great deal of respect for Benjamin Zephaniah. My list of
> influences goes on, but my mind clouds at this point.
>
> I write love poetry on occassion, and poems for friends, but I never
> actually keep a copy of these. I feel that once I have dedicated and given
> a poem to someone, it is no longer mine. Most of my poetry that ends up
> getting read by other people is my more socio-political work. I'm very
> left wing, an environmentalist and passionately against the war, and a lot
> of this is reflected in my poetry. For me, writing is about spreading a
> message, and getting it out to as many people as possible in innovative
> and creative ways, and this is what I hope to achieve in the long run.
>
> I'm an optomist, but I have no illusions about the state of the world.
> Over the summer I did some work fundraising for Amnesty International, and
> the people I spoke to on the streets told me a lot about human nature in
> general. I met some selfish people, a great deal of apathetic people, and
> some downright hostile people. But I also met some of the warmest,
> kindest, most caring and compassionate individuals one is ever likely to
> meet. At the same time I was able to see all that is wrong with the world
> today, and the answer to it. I believe there is hope for us as a species,
> and hope for the world. Through my writing, I hope to spread some of that
> home and, in some small way at least, to make a difference....
>
> Peace,
> Salman Shaheen
>
>