“I have never, ever sought validation from the arbiters of British poetic taste.” TasteBritishPoeticValidationArbiterLinton Author:Linton Kwesi Johnson
“Once you have a disease like cancer, you look at life a bit differently. Some things that were important no longer seem as important as they were.” LooksImportantSeemsBitsDiseaseCancerLinton Author:Linton Kwesi Johnson
“The more I read my poems, the more I find out about them. I still read them with the same passion I felt when I wrote them as a young man.” MenStillsYoungPassionFeltYoung ManLinton Author:Linton Kwesi Johnson
“Back in those early days when I began my apprenticeship as a poet, I also tried to voice our anger, spirit of defiance and resistance in a Jamaican poetic idiom.” SpiritVoicePoetResistancePoeticDefianceIdiomApprenticeshipJamaicansLinton Author:Linton Kwesi Johnson
“I am often asked why I started to write poetry. The answer is that my motivation sprang from a visceral need to creatively articulate the experiences of the black youth of my generation, coming of age in a racist society.” NeedsWritingAgeMotivationBlackAnswersGenerationsYouthRacistComing Of AgeMy GenerationVisceralBlack YouthLinton Author:Linton Kwesi Johnson
“I wrote two poems about the 81 uprisings: Di Great Insohreckshan and Mekin Histri. I wrote those two poems from the perspective of those who had taken part in the Brixton riots. The tone of the poem is celebratory because I wanted to capture the mood of exhilaration felt by black people at the time.” PeopleTwoWantedFeltBlackTakenPerspectiveMoodToneCaptureBlack PeopleRiotUprisingExhilarationLinton Author:Linton Kwesi Johnson
