performance and the poem 111tactics associated with warfare and crowd control makes the poem
not only a weapon of instruction and rebellion, but also an oppor-
tunity of reinvention and play. The text performs a struggle for
power; the repeated use of ‘di plastic bulit’ and ‘di waatah cannon’
creates an unexpected rhythmic phrasing in the poem that culmi-
nates with a desire to ‘bring a blam-blam’ (p. 272 ). Also, the poem
incorporates references to public offi cials such as Lord Scarman,
who led the enquiry into the Brixton riots. Scarman becomes, in
effect, a sonic resonance of both the dub beat and the action of
‘mash up plenty police van’ and ‘mash up di wicked wan plan’ (p.
272 ). The poem appeals to its audience: ‘neva mine Scarman will
bring a blam-blam’ (p. 272 ).
To many readers and listeners, the British poet Benjamin
Zephaniah has become the more accessible and possibly accept-
able inheritor of dub poetry. Like both Mutabaruka and Johnson,
his poetry works off the dub beat and also plays with contrapuntal
rhythms. But it is possible to add that anger in Zephaniah’s poetry
is slightly more muted, or focused on the domestic. Echoing
Mutabaruka’s ‘Dis Poem’, an early poem by Zephaniah, ‘Dis
poetry’ from City Psalms ( 1992 ), plays on its dependence on refrain
as a way of moving the work through conjectures of literary history
and politics in order to situate the poem in the public sphere where
it can be heard and even imitated. Zephaniah chants that ‘Dis
poetry is Verbal Riddim, no big words involved / An if I hav a
problem de riddim gets its solved’.^29 This ongoing commentary on
the making of the poem creates two impressions. One is the impli-
cation of immediacy, even if, as the poet confesses, ‘Dis poetry is
not fraid of going ina book’ (p. 12 ). But possibly more revealing of
the drift away from the initial anger of dub poetics is Zephaniah’s
admission in this poem that ‘Dis poetry is not Party Political /
Not designed fe dose who are critical’ (p. 12 ). Compared with the
incitement to insurrection and anger available in Linton Kwesi
Johnson’s poetry, Zephaniah views the movement and perform-
ance of poetry as a healing gesture. According to ‘Dis poetry’, the
melodies and movement of Zephaniah’s poetry, although entitled
as a form of ‘Dub ranting’, where ‘de tongue plays a beat’, are
performed ‘fe de good of de Nation’, becoming a form of shared
‘Chant / in de morning’ (p. 12 ).