by Izzah
On the surface, people wouldn’t associate poets with inner city life. But let’s not forget Tupac and many, many others honed their raw verse and bars on the streets. Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan was born in Bradford and raised in Leeds before attending Queen's College at Cambridge University, and SOAS, London. She performs live and has written and contributed widely, including The Independent, New Internationalist, Al-Jazeera, BBC Radio 4, and the BBC Asian Network. She has published and co-authored the indispensable book A FLY Girl's Guide to University. Suhaiymah's This is Not a Humanising Poem gained two million views and was short-listed for the Outspoken Prize for Poetry in 2018. Here she speaks exclusively to City Bugle.
Did you study poetry at university?
No not at all! I studied History at University and although I always enjoyed English at school, I never really got into poetry through school - it was later, whilst I was studying, that I got interested in poetry through spoken-word and slam poetry I watched on Youtube.
Did you like poetry when you were my age?
When I was 13 I don't think I really had much interest in poetry. I remember I did enjoy a few poems in books from the library, but I mostly thought of poetry as that part of English lessons that I didn't really enjoy!
Who are your favourite poets? I really enjoy reading the poetry of revolutionaries and radical thinkers from across the world who used their poetry to send great messages. That ranges from Assata Shakur, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Audre Lorde, Mahmoud Darwish and so many others. My favourite poets change all the time - I also love the work of many of my friends who are poets such as Amina Jama, Jamal Mehmood and so many more!
Do you think schools are good at teaching poetry? They might be nowadays but when I was at school poetry always felt a bit dry and difficult. My year 12 English teacher made poetry interesting to me for the first time through the way he taught it, but I think that schools often make poetry into something that seems too hard and inaccessible. It makes you feel like you don't really understand and that poetry is something only poets do. Instead if they realised that poetry is a rich part of so many people's traditions from our histories to the ways our parents and grandparents speak, to the music people listen to, rap, religion... poetry is all around us and I think schools miss a trick by saying it's only this thing that you read in old books by people you can't relate to.
Who inspired you to be a poet? Was it love of language, a desire to express yourself or something else?
No one person, I always wrote a journal for myself and I started writing more poetically as I watched slam poetry especially from the USA. I found that people were able to convey feelings of anger and frustration in really exciting and relatable ways through poetry - I saw it as a form of speaking and expression that was unlike anything else I could think of. I started writing poetry at a time when I felt nobody understood or would listen to my experiences of feeling really silenced and alone in a racist institution (university).
Can poetry change the world?
Definitely! Poetry is the only medium I know of that allows people to speak honestly and freely about the oppression in the world in a way that resonates with so many people and helps us feel the pain, the love and the experience of others. That kind of empathy is necessary for us to change the world!
Have you been influenced by non English poetry?
Yes although I always have to read it through translations. But as I have discovered how rich a tradition of poetry Pakistan (the country my parents are from) has, that's taught me a lot about realising that poetry in other languages captures so many moments of history. But poetry is also a rich part of non-European cultures - especially where literacy levels have not been high. Poetry has been a way that history is memorialised and how people pass on stories through generations - and it is so radical and cool because poetry in other languages often escaped the grasp of European colonisers! So I am really influenced by that radicalness of poetry. And of course the Quran - poetry from Allah. The Quran is written in a way that mesmerises so many people and I find that such a good reminder that poetry and poetic writing is something miraculous!
Injustice is a theme in many of your poems. Could you tell us a bit more about it? I write about injustice because poetry allows you to convey anger and pain in ways you can't if you have to simply write an essay about why something is unjust. With poetry you tell stories, you share feelings - it really reveals injustice in a new way that resonates with people
You can buy Suhaiymah's book here and teachers can commission Suhaiymah to come into schools and colleges.