Constellations

Commentary by Will Hoare

Linton Kwesi Johnson is a renowned Jamaican poet living in London, who creates a unique genre of performance poetry recognised as dub-poetry which grew from the rhythm’s used in reggae music in the 1970’s. One of Johnsons most recognised poems is Inglan is a bitch. ‘Inglan is a bitch is another classic piece of performance poetry which focuses on the struggles of an immigrant living in London. Johnson moved to London to live in Brixton in 1965. On moving to London he has said that is was cold and ugly and that‘it wasn’t the picture book idea one has of the mother country’.

Johnson performances are easily recognisable by the distinguished Jamaican accent he reads in. Inglan is a bitch in particular is published and written phonetically when read as a text for example ‘W´en mi jus´ come to Landantoun Mi use to work pan diandahgroun’, this is because his accent is integral to this poem in particular, as a foreign accent it stresses the speakers status as an immigrant.

The poem essentially describes to the reader a list of poorly paid jobs he was forced to do whilst living in London ending each stanza with the phrase ‘Inglan is a bitch, there’s no escaping it’. The repetition of this phrase throughout the poem keeps the audience reminded of his subject, essentially saying ‘it’s a horrible life but there’s no better option’. The phrase is followed in each stanza by another line such as ‘No baddah try fi hide fram it’ and ‘Y´uhaffi know how fi survive in it’. This last line appears somewhat comforting each time and hinders the effect of the irate ‘inglan is a bitch’ line. The repetition of this stanza also means it acts almost as a sort of chorus within the poem.

The structure of the poem is fairly simple with the ‘chorus’ stanza adopting an ABAB rhyme scheme whilst the rest of the verses which describe the particular jobs the speaker is undertaking uses an AAAA rhyme scheme which accommodates the text as a piece of performance poetry. The rhythm, which Johnson adopts when performing, is fairly calm and rhythmic, although his Jamaican dialect is particularly strong he annunciates the words that are most integral to the poem. This is a feature, which is helped by the Iambic trimeter which is used, benefiting the rhythm and thus the annunciation of the strongest words such as ‘bitch’. Johnsons choice to use ‘bitch’ specifically in this poem is interesting, the taboo nature of the word renders the line powerful. Repeating exclaim the word ‘Bitch’ creates an overtone of anger and disappointment emphatically expressed through in his performances.

The poem does not just focus on employment alone but more specifically the exploitations of immigrant workers. He refers in one stanza saying ‘me know demav work, work in abundant/yet still demmek me redundant’, this is referring to being asked to leave his job as he is ‘fifty-five, getting quite old’, an unfair dismissal with which he struggles to argue against. The jobs which Johnson lists in the poem shows the journey he undertakes in the foreign country the speaker has moved to. The opening stanza describes the tribulations he experiences working on the London underground. The speaker explains that ‘ workin pan the undergroun, ye don’t get fi no your way aroun’, this exemplifies the lack of knowledge which the speaker has of the culture and the country he is trying to integrate in to, and has the sense of being lost or disorientated. As he continues the speaker falls in to several other jobs such as working in a hotel and in a ‘Faktri up in a Brakly’. When talking about these jobs the speaker appears to be becoming more optimistic about his future in the UK ‘afta a wile me was doin quite well’ however when talking specifically about the factory he was working in he refers to being made redundant after fifteen years, even though he appears sure that they still have work for him. It could be suggested that he was simply made redundant because he was no longer of any use to them as he had grown quite old, John is highlighting the exploitation of immigrant workers who are paid very little for laborious jobs which have often have no prospect for promotion, only to be laid off and sent to go on the dole, explained in the line ‘dem sen mi fi goh draw dole’.