Oh, do you remember
The man who used to own the grocery stall
By the anchor
At the top of Deptford Market?
He’s no longer there.
Then they took the anchor.
Grabbed from behind
Like a hooded figure
Evicted without notice
Broken.
And then they wonder why
The rise in crime is so high.
Do you remember when they
Teared down the Heygate Estate?
To put a new
Shiny one
In its place?
Full of strange faces
Oblivious of the histories made in that place
Do you remember the stories by your Grandparents?
I came here in 1985…
I bet they did not expect
To be tossed out
Like day-old rice
On a Sunday night.
Yh there’s a Costa on Lewisham Way now,
Great right?
But
Don’t be blinded
Don’t lose sight of it all
Because soon you will realise
Like I did
When the rent went up and we had to downsize.
Nacheal Catnott is a British Caribbean artist and filmmaker whose practice addresses topics such as race, migration and cross cultural diversity in the UK.