with African and Asian refugees.
Patron Saint of Archers.
Patron Saint of Cavalry and Cavalrymen.
Patron Saint of Scouts and Soldiers.
Patron Saint of Riders and Saddlers.
Patron Saint of Fencers and Field workers.
with these
black, Muslim numbers
these small boats
these non-humans
can’t possibly do for
Black African and
Muslim Asian refugees
what we did for
white, Christian, blue-eyed, blond, middle-class, working-class European men women and children Ukrainian refugees
who look like us and live in houses and drive cars and go on holiday and go to work, church, the club, and school like us and who ...[5]Then, when he had died,
He arose again from the dead.
He arose again from the dead.
And began at once to preach.Patron Saint of Portugal, England, and Germany,
Patron Saint of Aragon, Catalonia, and Lithuania,
Patron Saint of Serbia, Romania, and Greece,
Patron Saint of Moscow and Georgia,
A noble man, a man of God.
His name was George.Somebody says Europe is a garden
built of freedom
economic prosperity
and social cohesion
[6]an exception
built of beautiful things
intellectual life
and wellbeing
Yes, we’ve built a garden.
Europe is a garden,
and the rest of the world, a jungle.
[7]Then, when he had died,
He arose again from the dead.
He arose again from the dead.
And began at once to preach.Patron Saint of Moscow, Georgia, and Serbia,
Patron Saint of Romania, Lithuania, and Greece,
Patron Saint of Portugal, Aragon, and Catalonia,
Patron Saint of England, and Germany,
Somebody says the jungle
by different ways and means
will invade us
[8]He arose again from the dead.
He arose again from the dead
And began at once to preach.Protector against the plague,
Protector against leprosy,
Protector against venomous snakes,
His name was George.
He confessed his belief in the one true God.
A nobleman, a man of God, his name was George.Somebody says African and Asian men, women and children
drowning four times
[9]cannot be human
simply cannot,
can’t be human
can only be illegal
warehousable
transportable
trade-able
fungible
units
swarms
waves
a flood
mermen tripping on fantasies of walking on land sailing oceans on ship rudders
[10]Icarus
[11] intent on disturbing 31-year-old, Clapham, south-west London software engineer’s Polish beer
[12]manacled, straitjacketed birds
[13] on chartered deportation flights
cattle trucks still–bursting throttling songs of freedom
[14] through manacled legs torn ligaments shattered spines broken w
ristings broken necks crushed chests collapsed lungs
[15]nothing to see here nothing to hear
would you like something to eat, ma’am
something to drink, sir
fasten your seatbelts
enjoy the onboard entertainment
one in, one out
deal
of single
fighting age
illegal
numbers, meeennn
with no right
sto want
our jobs,
our women
our schools
our social housing
our NHS
hotels
homes
children,
He arose again from the dead
And began at once to preach. Patron Saint of Ethiopia,
Patron Saint of Lebanon,
Patron Saint of Syria,
Patron Saint of Palestine,
Somebody says Britain must
reduce the numbers
send the drones
send the jet skis, wave machines and floating walls
send the navy
send the army
send M
MI5
MI6
James Bond
the police
The Doctor
send Peppa
Pig
send the patriots, knights, and SAS
send the villagers and towners
send Rupert Paddington, and Winnie
Toad too
round up
clear out
by any means
stop
them the invasion
bang
them up
string
them up
reduce
smash
the foreign
ers the Africans the Muslims small boats
numberssend
them back
carcasses
throw
them back
against the border
the sewer
verminthe river
the sea
human zoos
concentration camps
death camps
killing fields
weapons development & testing grounds
organ harvesting fields
fence them inwhat I’d like to know is would you push the buttonopen air & for-profit
prisons containers
disused military barracks
offshore
out of sight
out of earshot
offshore rigsprison ships barges
prison coloniesshithole countriesRwanda
Albania
Kosovo
fish and meat
markets grinders
warslet them drown
tents
sands
count themmonetise themtag & track themno rare earth mineralsnor oil and gasnor semiconductorsnor markets for our missiles, bunker buster bombs and F-35sthese
biomassO God,
who didst grant to Saint George strength and constancy,
preserve, through his intercession,
our faith from wavering[16]because
for themno visasno e-gatesno family reunionno safe routesno sanctuarybecause they are not,
cannot be
can’t be human
these numbers
these small boats
this invasion
cut their feet off[17a, b]deflate the
ir dinghies
the small boats
in the sunlet them drownthe Black African Muslim Asian carrionin the nightdetritus
inatwithin ourthe borderdriftwood
these
because we can’t cope
because Europe is a garden
because the rest of the world
is not blue-eyed blond a jungle
and the jungle
wants
to invade
us.
He rose again from the dead.
He arose again from the dead
And began at once to preach.
And The Sirens, still –
with songs of freedom
– to thy treacherous coasts lure
the displaced
to these hard, hard coasts[18]Wade in the water (we dey)
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water (we dey)[19]REFERENCES:
[1] In conversation with Toni Morrison who, in a 1975 speech, said: ‘The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.’ (Morrison, T. (1975).
Lecture: A Humanist View. The Black Agenda Review, 26 March 2025. [accessed: 30 October 2025])
[2] Extract from
The Georgslied (Song of St. George). Wikisource. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
[3] In conversation with Lady Blacksmith Mambazo. (1986).
Homeless. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
[4] Krause, U. (2021).
Colonial roots of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its effects on the global refugee regime.
J Int Relat Dev 24, 599–626. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
[5] Limbong, A. 2022.
Why Ukrainians are being treated differently than refugees from other countries.
npr, February 28. [accessed: 8 November 2025]
[6] Borrell, J. (2022).
European Diplomatic Academy: Opening remarks by High Representative Josep Borrell at the inauguration of the pilot programme. European Commission, 13 October. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
[7] Borrell, J. (2022).
[8]
Ibid.[9] Hayden, S. (2022).
My Fourth Time, We Drowned. Fourth Estate, 2022
[10]
Four Nigerians survive 14 days on ship’s rudder before Brazilian rescue.
The Guardian, 1 August 2023. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
[11] In conversation with Amanda Holiday. (2024). “
African Icarus”, in
Japa Fire: An Anthology of Poems on African and African Diasporic Migration. CivicLeicester, 2024: 32
[12] Kale, S. (2021).
Out of thin air: the mystery of the man who fell from the sky. The Guardian, 15 April 2021. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
[13] In conversation with Maya Angelou’s “Cage Bird”, on Poets Speak (2024).
MAYA ANGELOU reads “Caged Bird”. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
[14] In conversation with Bob Marley and The Wailers (1991).
Redemption Song. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
[15]
Deaths of immigration detainees. 2017-2025. Inquest. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
[16] Early church intercessory prayer
[18] In conversation with “
Rule, Britannia!” (1763): ‘The Muses, still with freedom found / Shall to thy happy coasts repair / Shall to thy happy, happy coasts repair / Blest isle regardless, with countless beauty places / And manly hearts to guard the fair’. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
[19] The Spirituals. (2021).
Wade in the water. [accessed: 30 October 2025]
