USHIKU CRISAFULLI
In 2009, Albert Kennedy Trust were invited to Manchester Town Hall for an event. I was chosen to speak and to perform a poem as one of the young people that benefited from their mentoring and befriending programme, both during and after my period of homelessness. The poem I performed was one of the first I wrote:
I sometimes wonder, will I plunder?
... and traverse into the vast reminiscent past
or were these foundations built to last?
They say nothing lasts forever but forever lasts forever
so maybe one day we could get it together.
We could transcend infinity in the blink of an eye
and blur the reality with laughs for a cry.
But the truth is that life is contextual,
What’s going on? Can’t we be lifesexual?
People get hyped about the asses and the breasts
but don’t care for humanity and say “f*** the rest”.
Yet even Casanova would be a lesser lover
to the one who sees all as their brother.
With this knowledge humanity would be emancipated
- rejoiced in the knowledge that we’re all co-related.
I’m no fanatic quoting scripture and verse,
I speak the truth and the truth hurts.
Is it right that people care more about designer shoes on their feet than they do ‘bout old ladies getting mugged in the street?
If this is life... then I want something deeper...
and if life is a game then say NO to the cheaters!
It was a year on from a previous event at Contact in which we staged a pair of installations representing both the positive and negative experiences that were part of our homelessness stories alongside David Hoyle for his artist in residency. On the second day of the installation, Coronation Street’s Anthony Cotton attended and spoke to me about the project and enquired about myself personally. A year later, at the event at Manchester Town Hall,Anthony Cotton was also in attendance and he rushed to say hello to me.
In a society that can often be star struck it was incredibly beautiful for someone considered important to see me as important, to remember my name and greet me as an old friend. Performing and public speaking were fun, and I quite liked the wine, but it was the kindness of an old friend that made this event and the day special and treasured in my memory.