Expressions from Black men with lived experience, whose poems and artworks were the starting point for the Black Men’s Minds installation.
Contributors Kobi Frimpong Jamille Malcolm Robert Raprasad Hani Malcolm Ibrahim Sean Bailey Workshop facilitators Stephen Rudder Richard Mkoloma
Robert Ramp PERSONAL
r asad EX
PERIENCE
Have y ou in the m kept your inn oc idst of th e corru ence ption o f the sy Raise y stem? our han ds To main ta enter th in your innoc e e corru ption to nce do you b ecome save fa faceles ce. Raise y s or do our han you ds Your giv e do you n enough rop e to ha join the ng you p or do y rself, ou join arty, with th to reac ose wh h your o den plac whilst lo oking fu e of fame, we ied, alth, an ll of gra d mate ce. rialism Raise y our han ds They d id In their not let me kn ow the h an no roots istory they pa inted a cestor were n and cu s savag lture e anim oble. alistic That w as their history And ch no ild with ple ren are force t the true stor -fe y. nty of g immick d lies, brainw ashed s. If you to ld me m my wo y value rth , my nob , ility. I would rise lik e and se t as the the sun in the sun at d mornin usk on g, the thr To reac one. h your pla you trie d to ma ce of fame, w ea ke me s ell my s lth of materia oul. lism Fed on th losing m e bread of co r r y birth uption right. Now I k now. I am em p stone b owered to fre e my m y stone . ind,
Hani Malcolm Ibrahim
Technicolour A white man sits at a desk and ponders on the black and white binary he looks out on, creating white experiences for white men, then somewhere in the midst of a sea of blankness a face gasps and starts to realise the magnitude of the people being excluded from the frame, with their stolen childhoods and constant pressures, they struggle through life bearing the weight of their family but also supported by them.
Hani Malcolm Ibrahim
WHO?
Who’s giving you that degree? That job. That sentence. What makes you a man?
That beatdown.
I don’t know any more. Society has changed
That subliminal oppression. That limitation in your profession.
What made you a man?
That obsession. That always leaves you second guessing. That look.. That judgement.
That fear.
Who wrote your textbooks? Who tried to erase you from the history books? Who tied your ancestors up on hooks?
Jamille Malcolm
Masculinity
Drinking beers? Women drink now. Shaving? Most men grow beards now. Playing football? Women play now. Being a man, Putting food on the table. Women are earning more now. What makes you a man?
But who actually built this shit?
Be a positive role model to children and the youth.
Who didn’t bend to the whip? Who stands like Atlas?
That makes you a man.
Carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. Though they try to knock you down with boulders. Try lock up your olders. Turn you all into numbers in folders. Hungry eyes in cells. Just another news story they will tell.
Kobi Frimpong
RESIDENT OF MORTALITY. PART 1 the rain Bluebirds fly across me when I can see no one near me.
blooms
He is free of false obsession monstrous, has no natural enemy.
id). es super can always stay afra (Even those that call themselv I need an answer! Why am I so quiet? Vitamin tablet doesn’t talk. Ask the Catholic alcoholic. Hold it down is the supremacy Look and destroy.
- a blind man’s alley.
? Hello Royal, are you still standing rally, a clockwork tower has come natu After the sundial’s final minute y. anit hum under the power of all even the deceitful will switch My arms are now yours, rhythm and blues. gardening slugs to the gods of
Jamille Malcolm
WAKE UP
When you ar e young you are tau ght about h istory, wars slavery But never ab out your ow n culture. You’re mad e to think th at if you do you are bei ng selfish or feel hatred.
WAKE UP!
Don’t think like a robot , research an d read your history, listen to deb ates, whether yo u are Black , White etc…
WAKE UP!
Learn abou t your cultu re. Look into yo ur culture d eeper Love it.
WAKE UP! Sometimes masculinity can be a wor Are you a m rying thing an or a mou se? I’m a man st uck. A voice read y to open u p. how? No media p anel shows aimed at m We as men en need to voic e our feelin gs
WAKE UP!
Hani Malcolm Ibrahim
POWER But power alway
s comes back to th is, people.
People in a locke r room, the smell of pher omones hangs in the air, an invisible leash that draws man to woman and woman to m an.
The stance taken when one exerts power over anot It can be standin her. g tall, it can be seated, but the power dy namic always be comes apparent. Like dogs, men faw n over the new age wom an of power, she sits with confi dence, a knowing glare in her eyes. As the men pran ce about like bunnies in springtime, enacting a matin g dance with their formal dress and colourfu l langu
age.
more.
Image by Kobi Frimpong
Their emotions be come clear and their lust shim mers. Pheromones hang in the air once
Kobi Frimpong On personal experience
RESIDENT OF MORTALITY. PART 2 Like helium filled balloons I feel to pop hood covered in blood.
as I erase my leafy
I am a snake with legs I am the gust wailing. A fisherman more than a hunter oxygen. the thunder swirls waves that breathe ent of morality I’m deep in the butter milk reality resid s wood camping in to fertility. where the flames burn like an engine r-filled liquid chamber the same The burst of sun-rays change like a lighte you score every penalty, technology that takes you to forever after r case of Morpheus power lowe like liquor running from veins into your with the flavour of the final hour has ticked it’s last flower king’s hearts near where danger is. Everyday spirituality: from the wild animals the caves my ancestors stayed wasn’t world but the sulphur in the air - like an alien not bending guns and edible matter there is no heart here just a plumber, ens working towards the battle of the heav lled brethrens As a young man I only listened to so-ca e leagu s Take a word from today move on up Stay unforgetful, with life and language take me from a mother, these wounds will not heal d. cause peril makes you kneel to a swor
Robert Ramprasad
POWER AND MASCULINITY power. Born powerful but losing that steals your power, iety In an empowering soc ul because you are powerf . eat and perceived as a thr ws keep an empire that kno This is what is done to it time is short or knows its fall is imminent. Lies are only for a time. Truth is power. er. Deception is false pow Propaganda! Miseducation!
Divide and conquer! Lies blind, eyes blind minds, ring. stops the ears from hea discern the truth? g is your spirit able to Without sight or hearin ation of senses? ent ori es without the dis Can you feel the true vib corruption and spread Unblessed power breeds e.. even to deceived the wis loit Power does not exp Born powerful but losing
power.
lies,
s e c i v r e s h t l a e On mental h
Kobi Frimpong
passion oke my w a t a ings th autiful th 0 I saw be 200 aze e 80’s to urple h from th oking p m now s e ts n m are gia od has g h s a li f g o n eE ion The vis e that th man se le tt li l awfu multiple am I on distincti e sky? rved my read th e s u o e y v a n a Ih C ! it e le hobb keep th Oooh litt we both s a g n as lo for you grass. waiting e od and b o l il w l, Iw e te s g meltin art real oth harp to I am a s
e’ ays ‘dar ls igh hee a man s h n r e a h e w w t I e bu rywher not eve by better, re made e things k a m ghts we to li t y n a m , w d n We all gh the la rod ll throu ghtning li a d as I stro e e n t o i do n design ose or purp a an ide name my Call mises. my pro ll a u o ey I will giv shell a hallow in Death
Sean Bailey
It’s half of me the
best part of me
that means so much, to me. Towards the light. Oh my, (I take a big sigh) Really, I need a bligh, to move away from this confusion. Lord! Oh! I forget… i’m lord.
So
let
me
design
how I move towards the light.
Wow...it’s dark in here. I can’t see, but I put my trust in me. What’s that glistening there? Oh my gosh it’s there! The light is there. It’s always been there with me, in this dark tunnel. The light is in me always been with me, in my brain I thought it was confusion. Ha! Ha! Ha! It was just an illusion WOW!
KAPOOW... What a Bright light! Tomorrow, another fight. The light is in the tunnel. (Whispers in the dark.)