If I Waz a Tap Natch Poet by Linton Kwesi Johnson Lyrics

If I woz a tap-natch poet
Like Chris Okigbo
Derek Walcot
Ar T.S.Eliot

Ah woodah write a poem
Soh dam deep
Dat it bittah-sweet
Like a precious
Memory
Whe mek yu weep
Whe mek yu feel incomplete

Like wen yu lovah leave
An dow defeat yu kanseed
Still yu beg an yu plead
Till yu win a repreve
An yu ready fi rack steady
But di muzik done aready

Still
Inna di meantime
Wid mi riddim
Wid mi rime
Wid mi ruff base line
Wid mi own sense a time
Goon poet haffi step in line
Caw Bootahlazy mite a gat couple touzan
But Mandela fi im
Touzans a touzans a touzans a touzans

If I woz a tap-natch poet
Like Kamau Brathwaite
Martin Carter
Jayne Cortez ar Amiri Baraka

Ah woodah write a poem
Soh rude
An rootsy
An subversive
Dat it mek di goon poet
Tun white wid envy

Like a candhumble/ voodoo/ kumina chant
A ole time calypso ar a slave song
Dat get ban
But fram granny

Rite
Dung
To
Gran
Pickney
Each an evry wan
Can recite dat-dey wan

Still
Inna di meantime
Wid mi riddim
Wid mi rime
Wid mi ruff base line
Wid mi own sense a time

Goon poet haffi step in line
Caw Bootahlazy mite a gat couple touzan
But Mandela fi im
Touzans a touzans a touzans a touzans

If I woz a tap-natch poet
Like Tchikaya U'tamsi
Nicholas Guillen
Ar Lorna Goodison

An woodah write a poem
Soh beautiful dat it simple
Like a plain girl
Wid good brains
An nice ways
Wid a sexy dispozishan
An plenty compahshan
Wid a sweet smile
An a suttle style
Still
Mi naw goh bow an scrape
An gwan like a ape
Peddlin noh puerile parchment af etnicity
Wid ongle a vaig fleetin hint af hawtenticity
Like a black Lance Percival in reverse
Ar even worse
A babblin bafoon whe looze im tongue

No sah
Nat atall
Mi gat mi riddim
Mi gat mi rime
Mi gat mi ruff base line
Mi gat mi own sense a time

Goon poet bettah step in line
Caw Bootahlazy mite a gat couple touzan
But Mandela fi im
Touzans a touzans a touzans a touzans