No Problem

Question 1

What is the name of the poem?

Answer 1

No Problem

Question 2

Who is the poet?

Answer 2

Benjamin Zephaniah

Question 3

What year was the poem written?

Answer 3

1996

Question 4

What is “de” and what does it suggest?

Answer 4

Non-Standard English. Suggests he is proud in his identity.

Question 5

What quote is repeated throughout the poem?

Answer 5

“I am not de problem”

Question 6

“I am born academic…”

Answer 6

“But dey got me on the run”

Question 7

Can you recite the poem?

Answer 7

I am not de problem
But I bare de brunt
Of silly playground taunts
An racist stunts,
I am not de problem
I am a born academic
But dey got me on de run
Now I am branded athletic,
I am not de problem
If yu give I a chance
I can teach yu of Timbuktu
I can do more dan dance,
I am not de problem
I greet yu wid a smile
Yu put me in a pigeon hole
But I am versatile.
These conditions may affect me
As I get older,
An I am positively sure
I have no chips on me shoulders,
Black is not de problem
Mother country get it right,
An just for de record,
Sum of me best friends are white

-Benjaminn Zephaniah

Question 8

What does “I am a born academic
But dey got me on de run
Now I am branded athletic” show?

Answer 8

There is stereotype that because of the colour his skin , he can run fast. There is also the idea that black people have to run from the police.

Question 9

“I”

Answer 9

Personal Pronoun

Question 10

What technique is “Yu put me in a pigeon hole” What does it suggest?

Answer 10

A metaphor. People have metaphorically put him into a box.

Question 11

What is a pigeon hole?

Answer 11

A small box