Written by Bianca Danielle
Keisha Thompson is a Freelance artist, producer and researcher, as well as a member of our project Steering Group. She recently shared with us
The Nello James Centre is very close to my heart as a building that was quite significant in my childhood as a community space…”
Keisha was a part of the community group who protested the sale of the Nello James Centre in 2015 and wrote a powerful poem about it. The poem was then featured as part of BBC Radio Manchester’s coverage of National Poetry Day. BBC Radio Manchester Breakfast Presenters Phil Trow and Chelsea Norris were live from the Nello James Centre, where Keisha will read her poem out and spoke about where she found the inspiration for her poem.
Below are the words of this poem and you can also listen to Keisha Thompson perform it on BBC Radio Manchester here.
For Those of You Who Don’t Know My Name is Nello James
I am what complacency
looks like – a legacy receded
communal pride has pulled
its hamstring so I’m stood
here greying… they named
me after him – C.L.R James
a man who showed strength
at the hardest of times
in my prime there was
a nursery in my belly, circus
lessons on my back, Abasindi
drumming on my chest
families parties, knitting
but it is all so quiet now
call my maintenance graffiti
call my rot a compliment
let me show you my squatter
fly-tip me for my services
to the community
those placards?
call them my visitors
out on the streets fighting
for me – call it Black Jacobin
and if you don’t
know – get opposable
this is the age of
the knowing.
it’s all so quiet now. less sirens. less cyclists singing. less
children skipping. less neighbours chit-chattering. we all
know too much. so much that we don’t need to speak so
much that we don’t need to name our buildings after
heroes. we can just Google them as we please
Keisha Thompson