as to how I can shout the answers to Mastermind but nothing

is working out. “The English have won in the lotto of life” –

aren’t we all English now? This coast is great ’cos our cots were in it,

our passport as good as it got. Now someone else wins the lot.

You’re either or neither or not. There’s no middle ground,

there’s no way round and some of us gave all we got.

Get lost with your truth and your news which never speaks for our lot.

We lessen the loss with a curry, a pint and a curry for mummy,

who can’t understand all the fuss, she can’t understand why we must.

Back in her day it wouldn’t have stood, back when the great and the good

could chill a nation to frost, could ration and batter and murder

the young and never be seen to have lost.

I try to ensure I can always recall the particular moment we lost,

it slips through my fingers at most. Another, another,

the memory conjured and lost. Losing and losing and loss.

Never recouping the cost.

Flowers

Will anybody speak of this

the way the flowers do,

the way the common speaks

of the fearless dying leaves?

Will anybody speak of this

the way the common does,

the way the fearless dying leaves

speak of the coming cold?

Will anybody speak of this

the way the fearless dying leaves

speak of the coming cold

and the quiet it will bring?

Will anybody speak of this

the coming of the cold,

the quiet it will bring,

the fire we beheld?

Will anybody speak of this

the quiet it will bring

the fire we beheld,

the garlands at the gate?

Will anybody speak of this

the fire we beheld

the garlands at the gate,

the way the flowers do?

Notes

‘Songbook’ is after Linton Kwesi Johnson’s ‘New Crass Massakah’, 1981.

Image of poster detailing the Black People’s Day of Action was created by the New Cross Massacre Action Committee, 1981.

In ‘Window’ the italicised text is from C.L.R. James’s Black Jacobins, p.361 (from Lemonnier-Delafosse, Second Campagne de Saint-Domingue précédée de souvenirs historiques et succints de la premiére campagne, Paris, 1846).

‘Hiss’ borrows from Aimé Césaire’s Notebook of a Return to My Native Land (Bloodaxe, 1995).

‘Washing’ borrows lines from the fact-finding commission conducted by the New Cross Massacre Action Committee. Some have been altered to maintain confidentiality.

Names referenced in ‘Apple’ are from several photos held at the George Padmore Institute showing celebrations of John La Rose’s birthday as well as other gatherings.

The image of the sign outside 439 New Cross Road is taken from a short contemporary film whose provenance has not been established.

The image depicting the vigil in 1982 was taken by Julian Stapleton and shows family members of the New Cross Fire victims.