Linton Kwesi Johnson

The more I read my poems, the more I find out about them. I still read them with the same passion I felt when I wrote them as a young man.

Once you have a disease like cancer, you look at life a bit differently. Some things that were important no longer seem as important as they were.

I don't go to see bands any more because I've got tinnitus, so I have to avoid loud music. You get used to it, but when it's quiet you hear a constant ringing.

I wrote two poems about the '81 uprisings: 'Di Great Insohreckshan' and 'Mekin Histri.' I wrote those two poems from the perspective of those who had taken part in the Brixton riots. The tone of the poem is celebratory because I wanted to capture the mood of exhilaration felt by black people at the time.

The modern stuff, I can take it or leave it. I like its danceability, but the DJs talk a lot of nonsense.

I have never, ever sought validation from the arbiters of British poetic taste.