Gary Younge was the ideal person to interview Linton Kwesi Johnson. Both are accomplished wordsmiths, analysers of society and campaigners for justice. A clear mutual respect exists between the two men, which made for easy but informative conversation.
The event at Howard Assembly Rooms, part of the Out of Many Literature Festival, was organised by Jamaica Society Leeds, one of many events in their ongoing celebration of 60 years of Jamaican independence.
For a generation of activists in the 1970s and 80s, Linton Kwesi Johnson represented the need to fight oppression and develop a British Caribbean cultural identity. At a time when police were physically attacking black communities and the education system was stigmatising Caribbean youth, his poetry spoke of anger and pride.
Gary Younge, only eleven at the time, talked of having been ‘blown away’ when he saw Linton Kwesi Johnson on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1980. I suspect that feeling was shared by many older members of the audience, whether their first encounter was in print, in person or on TV. The reggae-based rhythm, London-Jamaican patois and the ability to lay society bare, felt very different to the staid poetry we were being taught at school.
Their discussion began with Linton Kwesi’s Johnson’s journey into poetry. He had not seen poetry as a profession, studying sociology, the subject Younge now oversees as Professor at Manchester University, at the LSE. He talked of his experimentation with poetry as, ‘a visceral need for self-expression,’ the need to, ‘cultivate in verse how I and my contemporaries felt.’ He went on to explain how his membership of the Black Panther Party was key to his exposure to both politics and culture.
He was first attracted to Afro-American poetry, then discovered the post war boom in Caribbean poetry, particularly the dialect poetry of Louise Bennett. He took these influences and formed something unique – poetry using the rhythms of reggae music and the experiences of Black people in Britain.
Throughout the evening, the audience heard these rhythms from poet himself. All poems were from the newly republished Penguin Selected Poems. The new edition has three new poems and an introduction form Gary Younge. The first poem to be read, perhaps his most famous, was Sonny’s Lettah. Written in 1980 as a response to the hated SUS laws, it tells the story of two young men criminalised by a police attack upon them, while innocently waiting for a bus. He was keen to point out that although he has always been based in Brixton, he was involved in the fight against racism in Yorkshire, too. In 1978 he supported and wrote poetry for the George Lindo campaign. George was framed for robbery in Bradford but the campaign led to his release, after a year in jail, and £25,000 compensation.
1981 was located as the ‘Most notable year in post-war black UK history,’ one perhaps we should reflect on for Black History Month, a year that saw the death of 13 young black people at a 16th birthday party. The failure of the police to investigate the arson led to a demonstrate of over 20,000 people and the poem New Crass Massakkah. One of his new poems, Towards Closure, commemorates those deaths, reminding us that their importance lives on.
Later the same year, anger and frustration exploded in Brixton, as rioters took to the street. Di Great Isohreckshan celebrates the Brixton Riots and the way the riots spread, ‘all owevah di naeshan.’ Linton Kwesi Johnson stands by his celebration of rebellion. He was happy to read this poem and unapologetic of its praise of meeting violence with violence. In his discussion with Younge, he locates 1981 as a sea change, the time when black people in the UK fought back and made the system take notice.
The issues of oppression and discrimination have not gone away. He compared the Grenfell Fire to New Cross, encouraged by the public support for those that suffered, but acutely aware that the poor and immigrants are still made vulnerable. Johnson was as dapper as always, in his smart three-piece suit, tie and trilby hat.
His more recent poems have become more personal; memories of his mother and experiences during Covid. That doesn’t mean they’re not political; they still explore the intersection between everyday lives and the impact of the system under which we live. There are moments of joy in the sunshine, in Brixton and Jamaica, there are also moments of harsh reality.
His most recent poem, Di First Lackdoun, talks about people enjoying the park during the pandemic;
‘people juss skattah like littah
all ovah di clean-cut carpets of green
redeemin ert an sky an sunlite’
We are transported to a park full of active people enjoying the sun, celebrating life. Then comes the final sentence, a remind of the bigger picture, ‘“di unrelentin wailin soun of sirens” from passing ambulances.
When asked, what is his favourite poem? he says it is always the last one he wrote. He rarely does write these days, but when he does, he has plenty to say.
The Out of Many Festival continues until February 2023
Visit the Jamaica Society Leeds website for further details
