Doctor Zephaniah, I Presume

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The highpoint of my week presiding over graduation ceremonies was definately Dr Benjamin Zephaniah's acceptance speech when receiving his honorary doctorate.

Dr Benjamin Zephaniah is a British Rastafarian writer and dub poet - a type of performance poetry spoken over reggae beats that originated in the 1970s. He is a well-known figure in contemporary English Literature and has said that his mission is to fight the dead image of poetry in academia and take it to all of the people, even those who don't read books.

The degree programme features the following description of Dr Benjamin Zephaniah:

"Benjamin Zephaniah's first poetry collection, Pen Rhythm, was published in 1980, followed by The Dread Affair: Collected Poems (1985) and Rasta Time in Palestine (1990). He has been Writer in Residence in Africa Arts Collective in Liverpool and Creative Artist in Residence at Cambridge University. His first collection of poetry for children, Talking Turkeys, went into emergency reprint after six weeks. He has also writeen novels for teenages, including Face (19990, described by the author as a story of 'facial discrimination.'"

I was particularly excited by Dr Zephaniah's speech because I have been reading and studying his work since I was in Year 7. His poetry always provided great analysis in English lessons ( especially during modules on racism in literature) and was even more enjoyable to watch.

And his speech last week contained that same energy and spontaniety that I have to come to expect from Dr Zephaniah. Here are the highlights of his speech:-

• after being introduced by Kate McKluskie as an anti-establishmentarian, angry, disruptive poet, Dr Zephaniah turned to the audience and gave an innocent, cheeky shrug.
• "I was asked to mention something positive about Birmngham. Here it is: Aston Villa."
• "I am a poet and would love to reach out and touch you all... but that would be illegal."
• "I was once told that normal people see... but poets observe."
• "I then started observing things everywhere I went. I stood outside a police station observing the people inside. And they stood inside observing me. And I thought... this place is full of poets!"
• "I was expelled from school when I was thirteen. Nowadays they call it being 'excluded' because it doesn't sound as bad."
• "My teacher told me that I was a born failure. I want you to think about that for a moment. I wasn't developing into a failure. I was a born failure. Can you imagine how that made me feel?"
• "Myself and my tutor at Cambridge were once rowing slowly down a river with sticks. Posh people call it punting. But you're actually just rowing slowly down a river with sticks."
• "I've rejected five honorary degrees before now. However, Birmingham means a lot to me. It was where I grew up and I am proud to except this one."
• Final words: "Mum, I know you worked hard when you came over here. You got qualified and became a nurse. Well, you may be a nurse... but now I am a doctor!"

Well-deserved, well-said, well done. Legend!

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