My second poem was published
My poem ‘Permanently unsettled’ was published in the anthology ‘Welcome to Britain’. It tells the story of an unnerving UK border experience I had last year.
Published again by Civic Leicester
Last year, I had a poem I wrote called ‘Temporary’ published in Civic Leicester’s anthology ‘Poetry and Settled Status for All’.
Read ‘Temporary’ and how the poem came about
Still being on Civic Leicester’s mailing list following this, I saw an email last September that they were looking for submissions for their next anthology, ‘Welcome to Britain’. One of the themes they were welcoming submissions on was migration issues in the UK.
The opportunity was there, so I felt like I should take advantage of it and give poetry writing another go.
What my poem is about
‘Permanently unsettled’ is about an incident I blogged about last year.
Read my post: The UK border is still terrifying even with indefinite leave to remain
My second trip back into the UK after getting indefinite leave to remain ended with a UK border officer asking me how I qualified for settlement.
Hearing that question greatly unnerved me. Even with indefinite leave to remain, I was still getting asked questions to justify my life here.
My poem explores that feeling I had where I realized having indefinite leave to remain felt meaningless.
This border experience was what motivated me to apply for UK citizenship later in the year.
Read my post: I applied for British citizenship out of fear
My poem: ‘Permanently unsettled’
I got my indefinite leave to remain
That means no more questions, right?
I don’t have to keep justifying why I should get to live here, right?
That’s what I naively believed
Until the day I learned my new reality
That the UK border is an eternal visa application form
I just wanted to go home
But then the border agent asked me:
“How did you qualify for settlement?”
Excuse me?
Why do you need to know that?
My residency card doesn’t even say that
Stop asking questions you don’t need to know
Stop asking me questions full stop.
You gave me indefinite leave to remain
The time for quizzing me is over
But I guess I can’t refuse answering
I guess you always want me to feel at risk
You want to keep me in fear of losing my right to live here
You want to make sure immigrants know we’re never welcome in the UK
That we never get to own our right to be here
You want to forever remind me I only get to live here because I once had a sponsor
Forever a guest
Forever owned
Indefinite leave to remain doesn’t mean what I thought it would
I once equated it with permanency
But now I know
Only one thing is permanent with settlement in the UK:
Feeling permanently unsettled
Buy the anthology
‘Welcome to Britain’ has over 100 poems in addition to mine, exploring themes like migration, racism in the UK, and the legacy of colonialism.
If you like poetry and care about human rights, I recommend giving the anthology a read.
You can buy the anthology on Amazon or find it at local bookstores.
