Today I had a fabulous day at Poetry Live at the Bridgewater Hall, listening to amazing poetry from inspiring poets. I felt like a Lit student again! Yay! It was a really brilliant opportunity for some of our GCSE students to hear a few of the poems they are studying from the mouths of the poets themselves, and to hear some of the inspiration behind them. It was a really great day all round and I thought you lovely people (especially the tea loving ones) might enjoy one of the poems we heard from the wonderful John Agard. So here it is, ‘Alternative Anthem’:
Put the kettle on
Put the kettle on
It is the British answer
to Armageddon.
Never mind taxes rise
Never mind trains are late
One thing you can be sure of
and that’s the kettle, mate.
It’s not whether you lose
It’s not whether you win
It’s whether or not
you’ve plugged the kettle in.
May the kettle ever hiss
May the kettle ever steam
It is the engine
that drives our nation’s dream.
Long live the kettle
that rules over us
May it be limescale free
and may it never rust.
Sing it on the beaches
Sing it from the housetops
The sun may set on empire
but the kettle never stops.
Of course Agard is a performance poet so really you need to watch him read it:
Hope you enjoyed it. How many of you are now going to put the kettle on?
Thrive In Chaos 