 |
 |
When I used to teach in schools I frequently challenged colleagues when they raved over him. And when I actually saw him perform in a class room, his14 yr old audience weren’t impressed, saw him as a rapper who couldn’t quite hack it. ‘Are you supposed to be famous?’ asked one. Linton Kwesi Johnson is the real deal, in that performance poetry zone. As a role model Beni has possibly done a lot to hold back the development of young black British writers. At least one non-white British writer agrees with me. On 21 Nov 2014, at 16:15, Tim Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Got home last night turned on telly and there was Benjamin Zephaniah being interviewed by the comic Russell Howard. I like Zephaniah, lovely chap and all that. But there he was still with the same spiel that he was spouting 20 years ago about how most poetry was PRETENTIOUS and he wanted poetry for the people etc. He quoted that thing from Adrian Mitchell, you know the one, "Most people ignore poetry because poetry ignores most people'. I despair. Apart from myself back in an early Terrible Work item has anyone ever actually challenged him on this? Has he ever been asked to explain what he means. Has nobody ever told him how patronising and ultimately stupid that sentiment is. Urrrgggghhhhh! > > Tim