Published in / Opublikowane w: Welcome to Britain. An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction
edited by / pod redakcją: Ambrose Musiyiwa
Civic Leicester
Date of publication / Data publikacji: April 2023
No need to open Your mouth at all; When you enter, stay mum. Smiling is ok. Accent is not. Don’t worry about inviting people to dinner – Best not to, as that would be foreign. You could be spotted this way. Let the dinner go cold. If mastering tea with milk is too hard, Choose thirst; You can never Dunk properly anyway. Remember that the black mould in the shower Comes out to welcome you. That’s what eventually will make you feel At home. * Inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s ‘On the Term of Exile’
Dear Anna,
Read your words and kept mum for quite a while experiencing a visceral reaction. Memories of life in 1980’s London came flooding back, bringing both pain and longing. What a powerful poem! Thank you.
Immigrant