[Music]
[Applause]
if I could capture loves most secret
potion of Cupid’s arrows dipped in
devotion I would compose the sweetest
poem and I would give it all to you if I
could enlist words also profound an
exquisite mixture of precious sound to
paint the picture of a foolish clown
please no I would give it all to you hi
my name is mr. G and I am a poet as you
may well gather I don’t just walk around
speaking like this for the hell of it
but like a lot of people ask me you know
what’s it like being a poet was like
being a poet and I guess it’s it’s kind
of like being like an ancient troubadour
you sort of like go up and down the
country searching for metaphors and I
just searching for the meaning of things
all that kind of stuff so I’m literally
that guy I’m have poems world travel
alright and I’m so glad to be here so
I’m glad to be in Brighton I love it
here
really really great city I like coastal
towns
I like coastal towns a lot because being
from London I still can’t get over the
fact that land might end yeah and I
remember like the first time I came down
here first time I went down those and
the Queen Street or something like that
like I’m walking down walking that
walking down and I hit the waterfront
and I saw the ocean I was like wow man
the rain hits this place hard
but what I’m here to talk to you about
is what I call the religion of
rehabilitation I I’ve been doing this
poetry game for a very very long time
like a real real real long time like
like before social media before YouTube
like when I started Byker Grove was
still on TV right yeah young guys who’s
gonna bike or what yeah but no no no I
started off and I start off in Brixton
just doing like little open mics and
stuff like that and I gained like a
little notoriety and people start to get
to know my name is mainly word-of-mouth
back then and what I found myself
happening was that I was in getting
invited to then do workshops and I’ve
never done a workshop before I this
person said I really like the way you
speak the way you put things together
you know I’ve got a group of kids that
would just love to hear the way you
speak and I was like okay I’ll give it a
shot and so I’ll never forget my first
workshop it was it was life-changing in
many many of effects it was in this
school in South London and the school
was on the edge of this estate and so
you literally had to walk past drug
dealers to get into the school all right
there were guys outside there that would
just be on these like mopeds just doing
wheelies and they had loads of phones
and loads of jewelry’s and loads of you
know designer guns and you have to just
walk past these guys to get into the
school and a lot of the guys that were
outside the school they were kids that
have been excluded from the school so
all the kids in the school knew them you
know and they were just like just just
just run game on you they’d be like oh
you guys are idiots going in there he’d
be out here getting this money whatever
all that kind of stuff right and so you
know he just walked past was thinking
wow this place is different right
and so the essence of the project was it
was like a 10-week project and what we
had to do is we had to compose and
create a piece of art which would then
form part of a show which the then Mayor
of London Ken Livingstone that’s how far
back it is would would then go and see
so I was the older group of like about
25 kids you know
and they go how many people here write
poetry they don’t put the hand around
goes okay let’s hear some of your poetry
and it was all about you know about guns
I’ve got girls pause on this one here
right and because they were all speaking
from what I call the MC narrative and
the MC narrative always deals of what I
call the the first person so it very
much is about I’ve got this I don’t have
this I do this I don’t do that this is
me this is not me and then when you put
that kind of narrative in the minds of
like 12 13 year olds it very easily goes
into what I call bragging and boasting
and so I was trying to like get them
away from all that but this group were
like slick they were like real they
would listen to everything you say and
they would challenge you and it was one
kid called Michael used to challenging
me all the time you know he was saying
like hey mr. G how come you don’t write
gun bars how can you don’t write about
gangsters how come you don’t write about
knife in all these type of things being
on road the man named how come you don’t
write those type of bars right and I
said well you know you can only write
the truth that’s true to you and so my
impression of a bad man and your
impression of a bad man might be very
very different so you’re a young dude so
for you the bad men are those guys you
see hanging outside your school but for
me I’m a tall dude the bad man I knew
they got locked up in the 80s got out in
the 90s locked up in the 90s go out in
the noise those were still locked up in
the naughties now they found Jesus you
know
that’s my impression of a bad man you
don’t mean right I know a bigger journey
for them yeah and so these guys they
liked listening to the way in which our
vocalized right the way I put things
together
and so we were like going that week ten
week nine week eight week seven we just
started to piece together lots of pieces
of work and what happens is we started
to get a higher dropout rate because
some people just weren’t interested in
the whole idea it’s like if I can’t spit
bars I’m not interested so they wanted
to move away but there’s one kid Michael
I remember like he was sharp sharp and
you always picking my brain pick my
brain and one time I wanted it to him to
write a poem about love and he didn’t
want to do it you know I’ve got nothing
to say about love and so I thought okay
let me describe love to you this way
imagine that life is like a football
field and you’ve got like the four
goalpost know the four corner posts so
you’ve got two corner posts ahead of you
two corner posts behind you ahead of you
you could say one corner post is the
love and respect that people give to you
another corner post is the love and
respect that you give to people and
behind you is the love and respect that
people deny you and behind you is the
love and respect that you deny people
and you’re constantly playing this game
of football just just moving around from
different parts of the field forwards
backwards you know midfield defense
striking right an attempt to score a
goal now you can focus in your own half
you know stay in your own half and you
can operate there and just deal with the
denial of life and there’s a possibility
you might even score a goal from your
own half but in order to move forward
you’ve got to focus on the giving aspect
of life and that way you can just forget
about the denial and forget about acting
on a defensive and step forward and
understand the love and respect that you
were giving and that you’re receiving
and hopefully you might be able to
achieve your goals I put that in his
mind he’s like really excited he went
away and he wrote an amazing poem
fantastic poet and we went and performed
it and the mayor loved it
and it was that really inspired me it
really gave me like a lovely feeling of
accomplishment you know I felt like you
know my words are connecting and so I
then carried on being a poet I had a
little bit of success you know a few
series on Radio 4 I was the support act
for Russell Brand touring up and down
the country all over the world
I was starred in a West End show just
being all poetical and stuff like that
and I was you know generally enjoying
life but I didn’t feel that same kind of
like fulfillment in what I was doing
then when I was doing those workshops so
one day a friend of mine he was an actor
and he invited me to come to Felton
youth offenders institution to go and do
a workshop with the inmates there now
I’ve never done a workshop in a prison
before like I’ve gotten to visit someone
in prison before but that’s kind of
different right like going to visit
someone in prison is like like going to
visit someone in the hospital all right
like you go there it’s kind of awkward
you don’t really want to be there but
once you sit down and your opposite
someone they know why you’re there you
know why they’re there
you bring the grapes you just stop
talking about old times everything’s
good all right and you ain’t worried
about the other wards and this person
farted in this bed over here you’re mean
and this person coughing up in that bed
over there you don’t care if you’re
honest right when you go to hospital
used to visit the person you know and
that’s what’s like going to visit
someone in prison you just got to visit
the person you know but then when you do
watch up in front of folks it’s a
totally different scenario because I was
there in front of like 30 guys and I’m
looking out of them and majority of them
are black the majority them in there for
drug crimes gun crimes knife crimes the
majorities were from play areas that I
know and I’m looking around looking
around and this is a few years later and
I’ve seen one familiar face I see that
same kid Michael from my first workshop
and I was just like it’s I know you and
like you know when someone’s different
because back then he was a little kid
like all giddy and stuff like that and
happy right you know just kicking
footbal in the park now he’s a man now
he’s built voice deeper
taller eyes colder and he just looked at
me and then suddenly he recognized me
and I could just for a brief moment see
the little boy inside him I was like oh
no what happened to you man what
happened happened last six or seven
years I’ve seen you you know he’d killed
two people all right he got involved
some gang stuff ended up killing one guy
he then went inside that gang drama
followed him inside he then killed
someone else and he was awaiting trial
for the second murder and inside he was
like the done
he was like a kingpin right people come
and bring drinks and stuff like that he
could click his fingers everything
happened and just seeing that broke my
heart because I was thinking to myself
wow that the love and respect that you
never got on the outside world
you’re getting in here and the love and
respect that you never get even that
outside world you’re giving it in here
so my whole football field scenario in a
way prisons almost like the logical
choice for you right and it just totally
blew my mind it totally like wrecked my
spirit right and I started doing a lot
of work I went and volunteered with
national prison radio they do shows they
broadcast shows 280 different prisons up
and down the UK I started really get
involved in what I called the
rehabilitation process right and that’s
when I started to realize the
rehabilitation it’s it has to be like a
religion because you are there faced
with people that have committed crimes
of the heinous like crimes that your
internal moral register just is repulsed
by but you’ve got to say to yourself is
this person beyond being rehabilitated
does this person not deserve a chance to
be rehabilitated there’s a mechanism
that leads you into prison is there a
mechanism to get you out of prison but
as we well know the statistics are
terrible right within the first year one
in four inmates that are released are
likely to reoffending be back inside in
general recidivism which is reoffending
is 80 percent or 80 percent of people
are Co out they’re gonna come back in
again right with in jail you are 10
times more likely to commit suicide
so in a way it’s dangerous to be in jail
right jails are killing us now I know
that behind every crime is a victim and
I know that there are two families that
are crying over what Michael did but I
also feel in my heart that I still
remember somewhere inside him I have to
believe that there is that little boy
that there is something that can be
salvaged so that when he comes back out
into society because everyone who we say
okay lock him up you know throw away the
key
right these folks are gonna be out in
five years time 10 years time 20 years
time and they will have to be part of
our society again and if the olive
branch isn’t there to lead them back
into society
then there’s no point in us talking
about utopia and Wonderland and all
these type of things we may also just
create our utopia and create a prison 20
times bigger because we’ll just be
farming young men in there in there in
there and literally forgetting about
them and so that’s kind of the feeling
that I have about what I call my
religion and that’s the religion of
rehabilitation and so I want to finish
with a poem that is dedicated to the
memory of Michael and so this poem is
called living on an ice age there’s a
delicate balance of what follows fashion
as peer pressure unravels an adolescent
pattern you and your friends would like
to ride bikes and we did too you like to
sport the latest hairstyle that you like
and we did too and we know that all
teenage boys are gonna fight and we did
too and you think you were the first to
carry a knife back in the day we did too
this is where the problem lies but this
is the question that plays younger minds
it’s all too easy for all the
generations to confer and surmise that
the violence of the day never occurred
in their times but things have changed
heavier drugs are being blazed
perceptions are rearranged strange wars
are being waged around the planet
sending the message and if you want it
then grab it the pen may be indeed
mightier than the sword but the sword
makes its point sweetly doing damage
such as the delicate balance that
translates into high streets this world
is ruled by the mighty and no one
admires the weak
no one admires defeat this world won’t
be inherited by the meek so violence is
the lying
that we all reliably speak as everyday
we seek headlines of sensationalized
crimes as newspapers offer up more space
to advertise as a campaign issue it’s
hot and even politicians realize there’s
more to the pressure in the pot that
takes so many lives and make so many
mothers cry and scream the question why
was it their child on that night in that
fact that had to die and die for what
some trivial misunderstanding that could
easily be stopped some argument fueled
when tempers run hot or over what
someone’s got or false pride is being
mocked
so that outcome was the fist fight or
the night-sky be ignited by a gunshot
that person has got the latest iPhone C
and I want one – that person’s got a
father in their family and I want one –
that person’s got all in their country
and I want some – you say you’ve got
hatred for me well I’ve got some –
there’s a delicate balance over what
follows fashion as peer pressure
unravels an interesting pattern an
interesting challenge on how we choose
to live our lives are we floating
peacefully on the wings of a dove or are
we will perched weeping on the edge of a
knife thank you
[Applause]
[Applause]
if I could capture loves most secret
potion of Cupid’s arrows dipped in
devotion I would compose the sweetest
poem and I would give it all to you if I
could enlist words also profound an
exquisite mixture of precious sound to
paint the picture of a foolish clown
please no I would give it all to you hi
my name is mr. G and I am a poet as you
may well gather I don’t just walk around
speaking like this for the hell of it
but like a lot of people ask me you know
what’s it like being a poet was like
being a poet and I guess it’s it’s kind
of like being like an ancient troubadour
you sort of like go up and down the
country searching for metaphors and I
just searching for the meaning of things
all that kind of stuff so I’m literally
that guy I’m have poems world travel
alright and I’m so glad to be here so
I’m glad to be in Brighton I love it
here
really really great city I like coastal
towns
I like coastal towns a lot because being
from London I still can’t get over the
fact that land might end yeah and I
remember like the first time I came down
here first time I went down those and
the Queen Street or something like that
like I’m walking down walking that
walking down and I hit the waterfront
and I saw the ocean I was like wow man
the rain hits this place hard
but what I’m here to talk to you about
is what I call the religion of
rehabilitation I I’ve been doing this
poetry game for a very very long time
like a real real real long time like
like before social media before YouTube
like when I started Byker Grove was
still on TV right yeah young guys who’s
gonna bike or what yeah but no no no I
started off and I start off in Brixton
just doing like little open mics and
stuff like that and I gained like a
little notoriety and people start to get
to know my name is mainly word-of-mouth
back then and what I found myself
happening was that I was in getting
invited to then do workshops and I’ve
never done a workshop before I this
person said I really like the way you
speak the way you put things together
you know I’ve got a group of kids that
would just love to hear the way you
speak and I was like okay I’ll give it a
shot and so I’ll never forget my first
workshop it was it was life-changing in
many many of effects it was in this
school in South London and the school
was on the edge of this estate and so
you literally had to walk past drug
dealers to get into the school all right
there were guys outside there that would
just be on these like mopeds just doing
wheelies and they had loads of phones
and loads of jewelry’s and loads of you
know designer guns and you have to just
walk past these guys to get into the
school and a lot of the guys that were
outside the school they were kids that
have been excluded from the school so
all the kids in the school knew them you
know and they were just like just just
just run game on you they’d be like oh
you guys are idiots going in there he’d
be out here getting this money whatever
all that kind of stuff right and so you
know he just walked past was thinking
wow this place is different right
and so the essence of the project was it
was like a 10-week project and what we
had to do is we had to compose and
create a piece of art which would then
form part of a show which the then Mayor
of London Ken Livingstone that’s how far
back it is would would then go and see
so I was the older group of like about
25 kids you know
and they go how many people here write
poetry they don’t put the hand around
goes okay let’s hear some of your poetry
and it was all about you know about guns
I’ve got girls pause on this one here
right and because they were all speaking
from what I call the MC narrative and
the MC narrative always deals of what I
call the the first person so it very
much is about I’ve got this I don’t have
this I do this I don’t do that this is
me this is not me and then when you put
that kind of narrative in the minds of
like 12 13 year olds it very easily goes
into what I call bragging and boasting
and so I was trying to like get them
away from all that but this group were
like slick they were like real they
would listen to everything you say and
they would challenge you and it was one
kid called Michael used to challenging
me all the time you know he was saying
like hey mr. G how come you don’t write
gun bars how can you don’t write about
gangsters how come you don’t write about
knife in all these type of things being
on road the man named how come you don’t
write those type of bars right and I
said well you know you can only write
the truth that’s true to you and so my
impression of a bad man and your
impression of a bad man might be very
very different so you’re a young dude so
for you the bad men are those guys you
see hanging outside your school but for
me I’m a tall dude the bad man I knew
they got locked up in the 80s got out in
the 90s locked up in the 90s go out in
the noise those were still locked up in
the naughties now they found Jesus you
know
that’s my impression of a bad man you
don’t mean right I know a bigger journey
for them yeah and so these guys they
liked listening to the way in which our
vocalized right the way I put things
together
and so we were like going that week ten
week nine week eight week seven we just
started to piece together lots of pieces
of work and what happens is we started
to get a higher dropout rate because
some people just weren’t interested in
the whole idea it’s like if I can’t spit
bars I’m not interested so they wanted
to move away but there’s one kid Michael
I remember like he was sharp sharp and
you always picking my brain pick my
brain and one time I wanted it to him to
write a poem about love and he didn’t
want to do it you know I’ve got nothing
to say about love and so I thought okay
let me describe love to you this way
imagine that life is like a football
field and you’ve got like the four
goalpost know the four corner posts so
you’ve got two corner posts ahead of you
two corner posts behind you ahead of you
you could say one corner post is the
love and respect that people give to you
another corner post is the love and
respect that you give to people and
behind you is the love and respect that
people deny you and behind you is the
love and respect that you deny people
and you’re constantly playing this game
of football just just moving around from
different parts of the field forwards
backwards you know midfield defense
striking right an attempt to score a
goal now you can focus in your own half
you know stay in your own half and you
can operate there and just deal with the
denial of life and there’s a possibility
you might even score a goal from your
own half but in order to move forward
you’ve got to focus on the giving aspect
of life and that way you can just forget
about the denial and forget about acting
on a defensive and step forward and
understand the love and respect that you
were giving and that you’re receiving
and hopefully you might be able to
achieve your goals I put that in his
mind he’s like really excited he went
away and he wrote an amazing poem
fantastic poet and we went and performed
it and the mayor loved it
and it was that really inspired me it
really gave me like a lovely feeling of
accomplishment you know I felt like you
know my words are connecting and so I
then carried on being a poet I had a
little bit of success you know a few
series on Radio 4 I was the support act
for Russell Brand touring up and down
the country all over the world
I was starred in a West End show just
being all poetical and stuff like that
and I was you know generally enjoying
life but I didn’t feel that same kind of
like fulfillment in what I was doing
then when I was doing those workshops so
one day a friend of mine he was an actor
and he invited me to come to Felton
youth offenders institution to go and do
a workshop with the inmates there now
I’ve never done a workshop in a prison
before like I’ve gotten to visit someone
in prison before but that’s kind of
different right like going to visit
someone in prison is like like going to
visit someone in the hospital all right
like you go there it’s kind of awkward
you don’t really want to be there but
once you sit down and your opposite
someone they know why you’re there you
know why they’re there
you bring the grapes you just stop
talking about old times everything’s
good all right and you ain’t worried
about the other wards and this person
farted in this bed over here you’re mean
and this person coughing up in that bed
over there you don’t care if you’re
honest right when you go to hospital
used to visit the person you know and
that’s what’s like going to visit
someone in prison you just got to visit
the person you know but then when you do
watch up in front of folks it’s a
totally different scenario because I was
there in front of like 30 guys and I’m
looking out of them and majority of them
are black the majority them in there for
drug crimes gun crimes knife crimes the
majorities were from play areas that I
know and I’m looking around looking
around and this is a few years later and
I’ve seen one familiar face I see that
same kid Michael from my first workshop
and I was just like it’s I know you and
like you know when someone’s different
because back then he was a little kid
like all giddy and stuff like that and
happy right you know just kicking
footbal in the park now he’s a man now
he’s built voice deeper
taller eyes colder and he just looked at
me and then suddenly he recognized me
and I could just for a brief moment see
the little boy inside him I was like oh
no what happened to you man what
happened happened last six or seven
years I’ve seen you you know he’d killed
two people all right he got involved
some gang stuff ended up killing one guy
he then went inside that gang drama
followed him inside he then killed
someone else and he was awaiting trial
for the second murder and inside he was
like the done
he was like a kingpin right people come
and bring drinks and stuff like that he
could click his fingers everything
happened and just seeing that broke my
heart because I was thinking to myself
wow that the love and respect that you
never got on the outside world
you’re getting in here and the love and
respect that you never get even that
outside world you’re giving it in here
so my whole football field scenario in a
way prisons almost like the logical
choice for you right and it just totally
blew my mind it totally like wrecked my
spirit right and I started doing a lot
of work I went and volunteered with
national prison radio they do shows they
broadcast shows 280 different prisons up
and down the UK I started really get
involved in what I called the
rehabilitation process right and that’s
when I started to realize the
rehabilitation it’s it has to be like a
religion because you are there faced
with people that have committed crimes
of the heinous like crimes that your
internal moral register just is repulsed
by but you’ve got to say to yourself is
this person beyond being rehabilitated
does this person not deserve a chance to
be rehabilitated there’s a mechanism
that leads you into prison is there a
mechanism to get you out of prison but
as we well know the statistics are
terrible right within the first year one
in four inmates that are released are
likely to reoffending be back inside in
general recidivism which is reoffending
is 80 percent or 80 percent of people
are Co out they’re gonna come back in
again right with in jail you are 10
times more likely to commit suicide
so in a way it’s dangerous to be in jail
right jails are killing us now I know
that behind every crime is a victim and
I know that there are two families that
are crying over what Michael did but I
also feel in my heart that I still
remember somewhere inside him I have to
believe that there is that little boy
that there is something that can be
salvaged so that when he comes back out
into society because everyone who we say
okay lock him up you know throw away the
key
right these folks are gonna be out in
five years time 10 years time 20 years
time and they will have to be part of
our society again and if the olive
branch isn’t there to lead them back
into society
then there’s no point in us talking
about utopia and Wonderland and all
these type of things we may also just
create our utopia and create a prison 20
times bigger because we’ll just be
farming young men in there in there in
there and literally forgetting about
them and so that’s kind of the feeling
that I have about what I call my
religion and that’s the religion of
rehabilitation and so I want to finish
with a poem that is dedicated to the
memory of Michael and so this poem is
called living on an ice age there’s a
delicate balance of what follows fashion
as peer pressure unravels an adolescent
pattern you and your friends would like
to ride bikes and we did too you like to
sport the latest hairstyle that you like
and we did too and we know that all
teenage boys are gonna fight and we did
too and you think you were the first to
carry a knife back in the day we did too
this is where the problem lies but this
is the question that plays younger minds
it’s all too easy for all the
generations to confer and surmise that
the violence of the day never occurred
in their times but things have changed
heavier drugs are being blazed
perceptions are rearranged strange wars
are being waged around the planet
sending the message and if you want it
then grab it the pen may be indeed
mightier than the sword but the sword
makes its point sweetly doing damage
such as the delicate balance that
translates into high streets this world
is ruled by the mighty and no one
admires the weak
no one admires defeat this world won’t
be inherited by the meek so violence is
the lying
that we all reliably speak as everyday
we seek headlines of sensationalized
crimes as newspapers offer up more space
to advertise as a campaign issue it’s
hot and even politicians realize there’s
more to the pressure in the pot that
takes so many lives and make so many
mothers cry and scream the question why
was it their child on that night in that
fact that had to die and die for what
some trivial misunderstanding that could
easily be stopped some argument fueled
when tempers run hot or over what
someone’s got or false pride is being
mocked
so that outcome was the fist fight or
the night-sky be ignited by a gunshot
that person has got the latest iPhone C
and I want one – that person’s got a
father in their family and I want one –
that person’s got all in their country
and I want some – you say you’ve got
hatred for me well I’ve got some –
there’s a delicate balance over what
follows fashion as peer pressure
unravels an interesting pattern an
interesting challenge on how we choose
to live our lives are we floating
peacefully on the wings of a dove or are
we will perched weeping on the edge of a
knife thank you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: