Poems by students from Burntwood school - part 1

During her residency at Parliament, the poet and playwright Rommi Smith led workshops at Burntwood School in South London. The students produced some poems and prose inspired by the slave trade, which you can read here.

Freedom is, Lucille Gusah

Freedom is running in a field with the wind rushing by, freedom is laying down on grass and smelling fresh air...

Chained up in my mind, Natalie Methu

They look at me and stare...

Ma'afa, Ma'afa, Ma'afa, Samoya

Ladies and Gentlemen think about what that word might mean to my brothers, sisters and me...

Freedom is..., Carmen Lo

Freedom is having a choice and doing whatever you want to do...

Untitled, Anon

I was the fire, turning crimson orange, roaring...

Untitled, Aboeola, Anjoli, Jessica K, Nayema and Samantha

I feel like there's someone running over a mountain...

Confession, Katherine Bailey

The staircase within me thinks it's time to step...

Getting your name back, Nosipho B. Ndaba

My name is who I am, it represents what my parents felt about me when I was born...

Untitled, Dalida Carew

My name never left me...

Untitled, Yasmin Benlafki

AnYone...

Untitled, Cleo Little

My name is Cleo Josephine Little. It is just a name, and arrangement of letters, of sounds...

Freedom is, Yasmin Benlafki

Trees have many branches; freedom has many choices...

The chain, Hemali Mehta

I know he fears the chain...

Bit, Mei Leng Yew

Blood spills as I cut into his mouth...

Mother Africa, William Terry Obeng

I speak to you to tell you about the horrors you tormented us with...

In this section

Parliament and the British Slave Trade: Reflections and anecdotes
- Poems by students from Burntwood school - part 1