John Agard emigrated from Guiana to the UK in 1977 with his partner the poet Grace Nichols. He published his first book of poetry when still in sixth-form, and even in his early work was already taking an absurdist’s view of race and social class. His humour is crucial to his unique piercing of social attitudes, “making de Queen’s English accessory to my offence”.
Although his work often addresses Britain’s social and ethnic problems he casts his eye far wider with subject matter about war, animals and the British establishment. In his renowned children’s works he offers a playful taking down of hypocrisy, as in ‘We Animals Would Like a Word With You (1998). Agard has become a wry observer of changing attitudes, at times gently prodding a complacent reader and at others infusing his work with what Senator John Lewis called an urge to make ‘necessary trouble,’ as in the poem here. Flag is a timely poem to be reproduced here, dealing with the futility of war. Agard won the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2012, the BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2007.
Flag, by John Agard
What’s that fluttering in the breeze?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that brings a nation to its knees.
What’s that unfurling from a pole?
It’s just a piece of cloth
That makes the guts of men grow bold.
What’s that rising over the tent?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that dares the coward relent.
What’s that flying across a field?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that will outlive the blood you bleed.
How can I possess such a cloth?
Just ask for a flag my friend.
Then blind your conscience to the end.