Well, I’m not black, and I haven’t dreadlocks,

but I grew up in Birmingham

and I am a poet of sorts, a vegan,

and of course, I support Aston Villa.

 

And if someone told me I’d but weeks

to live. my only regret would be the same

as his, that I wouldn’t see Villa

win the Premier League.

 

But here is where I differ from him -

Benjamin couldn’t produce any kids

and wasn’t allowed to adopt them

because of a police conviction

back in the nineteen seventies.

 

Well, I’ve got eight children:

four by natural causes, four adopted

and several criminal offences

back in the nineteen seventies.

I should be counting my blessings.

 

But on Christmas Day(when we didn’t

eat turkey) I looked at the twenty three

others close to me, as elbows bumped

and the decibels grew higher,

and not for the first time I felt the desire

to be more like Benjamin Zephaniah.