Here is a poem called BLACK MAN INDEX (BMI) from my poetry collection (called STRING THEORY) which tackles the issues of mental health / PTSD.

Check the internet.

Check the stats.

Check the B.M.I

Black Man Index a.k.a How British am I feeling today?

Sir Trevor McDonald reading the news?

45%.

Stephen Lawrence death?

10%.

Stephen Lawrence murderers jailed?

60%.

Sir Lenny Henry

followed by Ainsley Harriott on prime time TV?

80%.

Ainsley Harriott

mistaken for Lenny Henry on the news?

-5%.

Enoch Powell ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech

locked away in the Black Cultural Archives?

90%.

Enoch Powell’s speech

reanimated on the BBC in 2018?

-666%.

500 Black man deaths in police custody,

no charges, no explanation?

-7777 %.

Windrush children denied healthcare?

Windrush children denied pensions?

Windrush Children being deported?

I can’t check it.

I broke the computer.

It makes me

ANGRY

like I wanna do something with an AK47 machine gun,

instead of yelling down an SM58 microphone.

OK.

Breathe deep.

De-stress.

Forget local.

Go international.

Travon Martin unarmed,

gunned down by a cop for no good reason.

Obama heckled in the senate?

Eric Garner’s last words:

‘I can’t breathe.’

Windrush Children Deportees Resettlement Booklet and DVD

Mandatory study UK Government guide

‘Try to be Jamaican,’ it says.

‘Use local accents and dialects

(overseas accents can attract unwanted attention).’

I’ve got to give up the internet.

I’ve got to go off-grid for my own piece of mind.

I’ve got to give up checking

my B.M.I.