18th of June 2020
Today's poem has been chosen by Head of Listening Service, Nicola James.
I Have a Scheme by Benjamin Zephaniah
I am here today my friends to tell you there is hope
As high as that mountain may seem
I must tell you
I have a dream
And my friends
There is a tunnel at the end of the light.
And beyond that tunnel I see a future
I see a time
When angry white men
Will sit down with angry black women
And talk about the weather,
Black employers will display notice-boards proclaiming,
‘Me nu care wea yu come from yu know
So long as yu can do a good day’s work, dat cool wid me.’
I see a time
When words like affirmative action
Will have sexual connotations
And black people all over this blessed country of ours
Will play golf,
Yes my friends that time is coming
And in that time
Afro-Caribbean and Asian youth
Will spend big money on English takeaways
And all police officers will be armed
With a dumplin,
I see a time
A time when the President of the United States of America
will stand up and say,
‘I inhaled
And it did kinda nice
So rewind and cum again.’
Immigration officers will just check that you are all right
And all black people will speak Welsh.
I may not get there my friends
But I have seen that time
I see thousands of muscular black men on Hampstead Heath walking their poodles
And hundreds of black female Formula 1 drivers
Racing around Birmingham in pursuit of a truly British way of life.
I have a dream
That one day from all the churches of this land we will hear the sound of that great old
English spiritual,
Here we go, Here we go, Here we go.
One day all great songs will be made that way.
I am here today my friends to tell you
That the time is coming
When all people, regardless of colour or class, will have
at least one Barry Manilow record
And vending-machines throughout the continent of Europe
Will flow with sour sap and sugarcane juice,
For it is written in the great book of multiculturalism
That the curry will blend with the shepherd’s pie
and the Afro hairstyle will return.
Le me hear you say
Multiculture
Amen
Let me hear you say
Roti, Roti
A women.
The time is coming
I may not get there with you
But I have seen that time,
And as an Equal Opportunities poet
It pleases me
To give you this opportunity
To share my vision of hope
And I just hope you can cope
With a future as black as this.
‘Propa Propaganda’ Bloodaxe Books, 1996
Benjamin Zephaniah was born in Birmingham, and grew up in Jamaica and in Handsworth, where he was sent to an approved school for being rebellious and ‘a born failure’, ending up in jail for burglary. After prison he turned from crime to music and poetry. In 1989 he was nominated for Oxford Professor of Poetry.