New Poems on the Underground November 2020

We are delighted to have a new set of Poems on the Underground in November.

I Sing of Change by the Nigerian Niyi Osundare, emeritus professor in New Orleans, Louisiana

I Am Becoming My Mother by Lorna Goodison, poet laureate of Jamaica, emeritus professor at University of Michigan

Naima (for John Coltrane) by the major Barbadian poet Kamau Brathwaite, who died earlier this year

Benediction by James Berry, a member of the Windrush generation who helped to rebuild Britain after the war. James was a dedicated friend and consultant of Poems on the Underground from its inception.

Dew by the prize-winning poet Kwame Dawes, who was born in Ghana, grew up in Jamaica, and is now Professor of English at the University of Nebraska

BOM Mumbai Airport by Nick Makoha, who was born in Uganda and now lives in London, a new voice in our programme.

In their distinctive voices, these poets powerfully express the need for hope in difficult times

BOM Mumbai Airport, Nick Makoha 'This far East your thoughts are the edge of the world. It will not be the last time that you walk through a door hoping to return'
Dew, Kwame Dawes ' This morning I took the dew from the broad leaf of the breadfruit tree, and washed the sleep from my eyes.
Benediction, James Berry 'Thanks to the ear that someone may hear Thanks to seeing that someone may see'
I Sing of Change Niyi Osundare I sing of the beauty of Athens without its slaves Of a world free of kings and queens and other remnants of an arbitrary past
I am Becoming My Mother, Lorna Goodison ' Yellow/brown woman fingers smelling always of onions My mother raises rare blooms and waters them with tea'
Naima for John Coltrane, Kamau Brathwaite 'Propped against the crowded bar he pours into the curved and silver horn his old unhappy longing for a home'
Naima for John Coltrane, Kamau Brathwaite 'Propped against the crowded bar he pours into the curved and silver horn his own unhappy longing for a home'

You can see more Poems for this month here