The 5-Minute Interview: Lemn Sissay, Poet
'I never had a family so I'm bad at giving presents'
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
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Lemn Sissay, 40, was recently appointed as the poet-in-residence at the Southbank Centre in London. He is working on a Radio 4 documentary called 'Black Boy' and writing a comedy stand-up routine called "Why I Don't Hate White People". He will be appearing on 11 and 12 August at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Luke Wright's Poetry Party
If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be...
My job is to inspire and be inspired. For example every worker in the organisation receives a poem of my choice, by any writer, every two weeks. I am writing a book, curating gigs and planning a Manchester night.
A phrase I use far too often is...
"It's all good." Nuclear bomb goes off and people ask, "how you doin' Lemn" to which I respond: "S'all good!" I picked it up in New York from my brother who I met for the first time a few years ago.
I wish people would take more notice of...
Themselves. If you are OK with yourself then you improve the world by wanting it to be OK with you. It all begins with yourself. That is to sound selfless rather than selfish.
A common misperception of me is...
That I'm not as together as I am.
I'm good at...
Finding people. I spent most of my adult life searching for and finding the members of my family. I've been all over the world. It's taken 15 years. The actual work of finding my uncle, mother, father, brother, cousin has been an emotional journey. Now I have a dysfunctional family like everyone else!
I'm very bad at...
Buying birthday and Christmas presents. I've not had a family so I've never related to those events so I'm just not really very good at them.
In moments of weakness I...
Close myself off. I used to think that was independent but then I realised that independent is being able to ask for help. Asking for help is a sign of strength.
You know me as a poet but in truer life I'd have been...
A poet who works in arts administration. I can't see myself being anything other than I am.
In a nutshell, my philosophy is this:
My aim is to take it easy but take it all. I'm shit at that, by the way. I run around like a blue-arsed fly, but nevertheless that's my aim.
Sara Newman
