ARTICHOKES are very nice roasted with pine nuts

Who likes BANANA cream pie?

They say that eating CARROTS improves your eye sight

Along the river Nile there are many DATE palms

ELDERBERRIES make a flavorsome wine

Piths from a FIG can easily get stuck between your teeth

Nape tape and shape all rhyme with GRAPE

HORSERADISH has a hot tangy taste

ICE-PLANT is a much used vegetable in Chinese cookery

The oil extract from JUNIPER BERRIES produces quine

My sister likes KALE steamed with lemon rind

It is so nice to munch on a LETTUCE leaf

MANDARINS are presently plentiful at the green grocer's

NEEPS can be mashed or left whole

On a hot summer day chilled ORANGE juice goes down well

Has anyone got a good PUMPKIN scone recipe?

Lashings of QUINCE jam were spread on my toast

The lady next door grows RHUBARB

SPINACH gave Popeye much strength

Smothering sausages in TOMATO sauce is sensational

UGLI is a member of the citrus family

In New Orleans you'll find fresh VELVET BEANS

WATERCRESS salad is so easy to prepare

XIGUA is a type of WATERMELON

YAMS are a staple of the New Guinean diet

ZUCCHINI bread is delicious fair

Unapologetically Black

I am black, what does that mean
It's supposed to mean that
That everywhere I go I am seen
It means that the sun and I have the best of relationships
That of melanin and honey I drip
It means that every step I take is magical
So beautiful, its biblical
My body, a pulchritudinous sculpture
In my roots, circulating the richest of cultures
I make my own light
And it's so so bright, such a beautiful sight
My cloud-like tresses with the most diverse of personalities
From wavy, to curly, to, coily, to *****
Everyone who is not me can only envy
But instead,it means that
It means that everywhere I go I am seen
It means that people don't have to think too much
Immediately I am judged
Because of the colour of my skin
I am treated like I come from the bin
You see me wearing a hoodie
You immediately think to **** me is your duty
Because I’m African
You treat me like I ain’t human
But I’m so much more than that
Now, I’m going to try to talk to you and make an impact
Don’t you realize, that the fabric of our society is being torn up by racism
We’re destroying and attacking ourselves like it's cannibalism
Don’t you realize that you're not worried about me
But instead my place in the human race
Don’t you realize that you are fed half truths
In the history books
I'm more than your stereotypes of being loud and obnoxious
You all think the same way it’s like you don’t even have an option
You focus on my colour
And don’t realise that the cops killing us are getting dollars
Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times when trying to enter his apartment
Think about it, he never got to do all the things of which he dreamt
This Guinean immigrant came to the country supposedly with streets paved with gold, only to fall to the ground, ****** and grey
It's not a big deal you say
Well Sean Bell was shot on his way home to his soon to be wife on the day of his marriage

50 BULLETS

No reason stated
Is this really what we’re going to encourage
Aiyana Stanley was only seven when she was shot in her sleep while her house was being bombed
Unacceptable it is beyond
Today I walk on your lands fearing our lives, my head the ground
I wonder if my heart ever feel sound
I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired
I choose not to stand around and watch the hate
I know that I was not made for this fate.
I’m tired of the continuous *******,
Well **** sorry I didn't realise i wasn’t allowed to be black in public.
My skin is not a burden, it’s a blessing with a touch love,
Smiling wide, head high, graceful like a dove.
In the future we stand, sit back and relax
So I puff up my ‘fro and turn my ****** music on,
Because whatever you say or do I will not crack
I will always stay unapologetically black.