Francine Buchner, Gleaner Writer

Contributed

Toronto:

Poet Linton Kwesi Johnson's journey started in Jamaica and he found inspiration in the Caribbean Artist Movement (1966-1972) in Britain, while the British Black Panther Movement (1970-1973) ignited his passion.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Johnson shared his thoughts on 'Writing Reggae - Politics, Poetry and Popular Culture', with a modest audience at the 3rd Annual Distinguished Lecture Series, inside Toronto's St Lawrence Hall in celebration of National Heritage Week 2008 recently.

Back then, he recalled, growing up in the islands meant reading Psalms, Proverbs, Songs of Solomon and listening to Anancy and duppy stories, riddles, playing ring and word games, as well as 'fire deh a muss muss tail him tink a cool breeze' from your grandmother. This was his first introduction to the power of words and the power of music.

Father of dub poetry

Little did he realise he would later fuse the two and be titled the 'Father of Dub Poetry' - performance poetry spoken word over reggae rhythms. It is what Linton describes as reggae stripped down and recreated, a new movement of orality in Jamaican poetry in the 1980s.

"My first language is Jamaican Creole," said Johnson, who strives to write word music with lines that sound like a bassline. In dub poetry the emphasis is on the drum and the bassline.

During the social and political movements of the '60s and '70s in the United Kingdom, Johnson was introduced to New Beacon Books, the source of most black-authored books. The works of poets John LaRose (Trinidad), Andrew Salkey (Panama), Claude McKay (Jamaica) and WEB DuBois (African American) changed Johnson's life.

"You cannot call yourself a poet and not read poetry," said Johnson. "It is important for young writers to read and experiment." He said, though, that this is habit that no longer exists in Jamaica. "Technology has changed rap and dance-hall music, genres whose roots originate with reggae, ska and rocksteady," he said.

When Johnson arrived in London in 1963, just 11 years old, to join his mother, he found the country was not the multicultural place of the Tony Blair times.

Johnson's most celebrated poems were written during the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

These poems told of regular racist police brutality occurrences - "African/Asian/West Indian/ an' Black British/stan firm inna Englan/inna disya time yah/far noh mattah wat dey sey/come what may/we de here to stay/inna Inglan".

Though Johnson can write the Standard English lyrical poetry, he chooses to stick to his love for Creole.

"The memories hearts are keeping/Will soon slide down in dreams/When no one sleeps/But close their eyes and weeps," he writes in 'Jamaica Lullaby'.

"I came to poetry through politics," said Johnson. He said that he uses poetry as a cultural weapon.

Johnson has published four books so far and his works are now taught in schools and universities. "All of this I achieved on my own terms," said Johnson, who owns his own record label, LKJ Records.

His second book, Dread Beat an' Blood (1975), includes poems that were later released as a record in 1978. Johnson's Mi Revalueshanary Fren was published in 2002 as a Penguin Classic edition. Most of Johnson's poetry is political, expressing his experiences of being a black man of Caribbean descent living in Britain.

In 2005, Johnson was awarded a Musgrave medal by the Institute of Jamaica for his work in the field of poetry.