My memories of Benjamin Zephaniah are of him sharing a stage with Tony Benn at the Ledbury poetry festival in 2013, and later at the same festival, at his own sell-out show. Here are my words from back then: 

"You could tell what they think of Benjamin Zephaniah at Ledbury from the size of the audience, young and older, in the sold-out seats at the community hall. They loved it when the Brummie with flowing Rastafarian dreadlocks told them: “I’ve come to celebrate Ledbury’s multiculturalism … well, to encourage it, anyway.” Zephaniah’s multiculturalism – that “dread” word so disparaged in certain quarters -  comes with lashings of humour. In a visionary poem very loosely modelled on Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech, he proclaimed there would come a time “when all black people will speak Welsh” and play golf, and curry would be served alongside shepherd’s pie. Maybe it already is.

In a nod to the hospitality at poetry festivals, he asked: “What’s the difference between a poet and a normal person? I walk into rooms and there is mineral water waiting for me.” Zephaniah, one of life’s natural unifiers, was nevertheless happy to state his position in the never-ending page / performance poetry debate, schism, call it what you will. ‘Dis Poetry’ includes the lines:

      Dis poetry is designed for ranting

     … won’t put you to sleep

     … is not afraid of going in a book 

     … anybody can do it for free.

PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID ANDREW / WRITE OUT LOUD