Skinners’ academy, London, 2022
Once I was the ground
I never had nothing
Just the brown dirt rich with nutrients
The potential for success
A total mess, rough nothing more nothing less
They say how you come to this earth is how you leave
So I believe
Life isn’t just one line but a race that bends
For yourself you have to fend
The world doesn’t care about broken hearts
For yourself you have to mend
I started the race I was forced into
I closed my eyes and my dreams flashed before me
Someone grabbed it and dashed it
They stole my baton
Because I wasn’t good enough
I was too loud for them
Kept telling me stay composed
Stay in child place
Guess I caught the wrong end of the race
I was quiet, I was in my head
Fake silence been vocal
Being outspoken could never leave me it's too local
Makes up my being my total
But I still couldn’t see it
They didn’t see me fit
Because I live across the Farm
Where drillers live and stay armed
Because I take the 259 to a school amongst the blocks
Come and live a day in my creps
it’ll leave your brain dead
you'll see
Never did my top button
They look at me like fresh meat, mutton
Someone to mould and chuck in the world
Coming from a place like me
expressive I stay
Words and thoughts face imprisonment
they're criminals
That why I never thought I would do poetry
There was no other way to stop the words from becoming fugitives
On the run on the loose facing thrill
Now they finally
Stand still.