john agards listen mr oxford don has been called pretty and funny and cute, which makes me a little sad cause it struck me as a brilliant way of saying fuck you to the language police, saying fuck you to those who view cant and dialect and creole and patois and slang and techincal speech as illegitamate.

it reclaims language itself, something that his african american contemparies failed to do, and did so in a way that reminded me of mcdiamarond or mcneice.

here it is

Me not no Oxford don
me a simple immigrant
from Clapham Common
I didn't graduate
I immigrate

But listen Mr Oxford don
I'm a man on de run
and a man on de run
is a dangerous one

I ent have no gun
i ent have no knife
but mugging de Queens English
is the story of my life

I don't need no axe
to split/ up yu syntax
I don't need no hammer
to mash/ up yu grammar

I warning you Mr. Oxford don
I'm a wanted man
and a wanted man
is a dangerous one.

Dem accuse me of assault
on de Oxford English Dictionary/
imagine a concise peaceful man like me/
dem want me to serve time
for inciting rhyme to riot
but I tekking it quiet
down here on Clapham Common

I'm not a violent man Mr Oxford Don
I only armed wit mih human breath
but human breath
is a dangerous weapon

So mek dem send one big word after me
I ent serving no jail sentence
I slashing suffix in self-defence
I bashing future wit present tense
and if necessary

I making de Queens English acessory/to my offence

(look at that, how dangerous his own tounge is, and that last line an exhortation to locals, that poetry should be of her and now, that the place where one is writing should be the subject that one is writing)