I am often asked why I started to write poetry. The answer is that my motivation sprang from a visceral need to creatively articulate the experiences of the black youth of my generation, coming of age in a racist society. — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
At the end of the day, life's about realising one's human potential. I don't know if I've realised mine, but I've certainly gone a… — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
I don't go to see bands any more because I've got tinnitus, so I have to avoid loud music. You get used to it,… — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
That the language of the poetry of Jamaican music is rastafarian or biblical language cannot simply be put down to the colonizer and his… — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
Once you have a disease like cancer, you look at life a bit differently. Some things that were important no longer seem as important… — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
Back in those early days when I began my apprenticeship as a poet, I also tried to voice our anger, spirit of defiance and… — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon. — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
The more I read my poems, the more I find out about them. I still read them with the same passion I felt when… — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
I wrote two poems about the '81 uprisings: 'Di Great Insohreckshan' and 'Mekin Histri.' I wrote those two poems from the perspective of those… — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
I am often asked why I started to write poetry. The answer is that my motivation sprang from a visceral need to creatively articulate… — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
I have never, ever sought validation from the arbiters of British poetic taste, — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
The modern stuff, I can take it or leave it. I like its danceability, but the DJs talk a lot of nonsense. — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
…the popular music of Jamaica, the music of the people, is an essentially experiential music, not merely in the sense that the people experience… — Linton Kwesi Johnson Copy Share Image
