Recently I bumped into a group of young British poets from Milton Keynes near where I live, roughly the same age as my own son (21 years old.) These are not snotty kids attending fancy private schools; they are ordinary guys going to ordinary schools and colleges. They had put together a collection of their poems and asked me what I thought of them. I looked through them. There were a few spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes, homophones.
However what shone very brightly through all that, was the raw emotion; through the lines of these poems we can see not only what makes these kids tick, but also how much we can learn from their expressions and ideas. I found that hugely enlightening, so last week I asked two of their number a few questions which I reported on here. Here now are some excerpts from their work which I find particularly inspiring. I’ve chosen two poems from their self-published collection…
Epiphany by Zach
I walked into a pub up town, met up with some mates
Went for a drink, then we were drunk, smiles all round
Then a friend turned to me, a grin to frown
Asked why so many people in the world are allowed…
To take away the freedom of men, women and children
To excuse split blood on religion to justify killing them
I said what brought all this on, what have you been smoking
Apart from the few beers there’s nothing I’ve been toking.
So why then an angry insight to the world that doesn’t concern you
It’s not an insight he said; as much as balance between evil and common good
In ten years you could have a child, and every day its chances become defiled
Twenty and he’ll be growing up oppressed
With the imagination and innocence of youth suppressed.
With nothing but YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, MSN and Bebo
Consuming sh*t, sending blogs and terrifying the people.
Forgot how to dance
Stuck in a trance
Behind a keyboard
Nothing out of the norm at first glance.
But how long till every f*cker is stuck behind glass and concrete
Everyone being needy with everything to keep
Everybody knowing everything
But still being discreet.
We see the pain and suffering of each generation
We know what’s gonna happen next with no anticipation
Instead of using our voice
We hide behind a digital application
When for hundreds of years, freedom is the title of all our nations.
When we live to work and work so we can live
In our 3 storey houses while all our morals get sent to the tip.
I’m not one to complain or to make a scene
But this is common sense mate
Every wrong with the world has been seen.
And you just made a point about what I’ve been smoking
To assume I’m on drugs when only the truth has been spoken.
When people with opinion are outcast of society
When the production of weapons has become every government’s priority
They’re lying to me, nobody is free even the guy you work for
Is working for someone higher up the tree, so you see
To be or not to be part of system claiming to hold the key
Who says it’s easy as 1, 2, 3 looking down the barrel of a gun
Begging please.
When the crops have turned to dried mud
In fifty years nod and tell me it’s all good.
When the bombs burn boom bang thud
When every child conceived will always and forever be stained with
The past’s blood
We say we have it tough?
You haven’t seen nothing yet.
Attracting The Flak by Ben
It’s a sure shank with no redemption
Constriction of contemplation
Close up, give out
Prescribed suffocation designed to mess you about
These lines fill the streets
Lines of louts created as such by society’s doubts
Knife crime is rampant
The first hooligans a phantom
Silently secreting ideas into the minds of the wanton
Not tools nor geniuses but fools.
Cursed and conformed by the public schools
Prophecy fulfilled and the single ones get sent the bills
Tax laws are funny with the tax payers’ money
Laugh it up
Legal addicts with pills of prescription.
I was told to take ‘em
When times showed that I was gonna blow
Throw off this dark blanket
Explode
The doctor took control
“that’s the drugs and alcohol”
No good to think deep
Just while away your time
In a media-induced sleep.
A drug’s a drug same as a thug is always a thug
Whether it be policeman or inflicted mug
Your grave has been dug.
The media resonate the crimes
So on a dark night
All you can think of is the violence of our times…
I’m gonna get knifed
Tonight’s the night
Friendly faces turn dark
You hype for the fight
But it’s only Grandma Doe
Walking home alone
And you almost broke her nose.
Living in fear causes aggression
And the media push the pressure.
So you’re on the attack
Attracting the flak
Thinking of the knife
Every day of your life.
Thought provoking, isn’t it?
Some help to make you write poetically:
“Banana Skin Words and how not to slip on them”…over 1,500 spelling and grammar tips to perfect your written English
“English to English: the A to Z of British-American translations”…more than 2,000 business and social terms from the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
“The English Language Joke book”…hundreds of laughs about this crazy language of ours
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[…] Next week I’ll post some examples of Zach’s and Ben’s work. Be prepared to be inspired… […]