part one of this interview is here
Shelley
What do you regard as your greatest achievement as a poet?
Anesu
Reading my poem at the Black Lives Matter protest outside of City Hall. There was an energy there that I’ve never felt before.
Shelley
I am aware that you have taken part in many readings and performances. Are there any in particular which stand out?
Anesu
I’ve participated in a few open mic nights and at other events, but I’d say the three most significant to me are Circle Back, QUB Black History Month and Sky You Are Too Big. These were the ones that I felt most connected to.
Shelley
As a writer, you respond to important events and campaigns. Does writing play any role in your work on the NI Youth Forum?
Anesu
I’m on the executive committee at NIYF, so my role isn’t really poetry-related. However, I have facilitated a workshop during Black History Month, using my poem Where am I from?
Shelley
I am aware that this poem has achieved widespread recognition . Can you say something about it, and how you came to write it?
Anesu
That poem was written as part of the NI Youth Forum’s Black History Month campaign. I’d been doing a lot of research into inspirational black figures throughout history, so I had a lot of information just sitting in my head. At one of our meetings, our director suggested I try writing a poem and I think because I had so much in my head, it just flowed out of me. I wrote it on the way to school one morning, it’s one of the fastest poems I’ve ever written.
You can see Anesu performing her poem at the link below
Shelley
What are your aims and ambitions for your poetry?
Anesu
Like every poet I think I’d love to get published, but that’s never been why I write the poetry. I write a lot of the time to untangle the more complex parts of my identity, so if someone like me, a young black girl, could read one of my poems and feel seen and understood, that would probably be the most fulfilling thing.
Shelley
Any words of advice to other young poets?
Anesu
Honestly, just write and don’t overthink it. Even if you think what you’ve written is terrible, it’s practice, and majority of the time it is actually not. Also, never throw out old notebooks or poems because you could come back in two years and you suddenly know what you were trying to say the first time.
Shelley
Finally, Any thoughts about reading and writing poetry in schools?
Anesu
If I could ask one thing from schools it would be: please diversify. As good as To Kill a Mockingbird is, it is the black experience through white eyes. There are so many wonderful books written by black writers that explore race in much more personal and nuanced ways, and they are written beautifully. Both classics and contemporary. This applies to more than race; teach books with disabled, neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ characters. There are so many types of people in the world; that should be reflected in classroom literature.
Shelley
Thanks very much for agreeing to this interview, Anesu. Can we end with some lines from one of your poems?
Anesu
Yes, absolutely, Here are some lines from Where Am I from?
I am from the textbooks,
that have been pushed behind the bookshelf.
I am from the pages that were ripped out,
And burned.
I am from the truth that will never be told.
I am from the voices that have been silenced
by history,
I am from the voices that refused to be silent.
Rosa Parks, Nina Simone, Martin Luther King Jr, Dr Nelson Mandela.”
