It was typical of eminent poet, Benjamin Zepaniah who passed away earlier this month seemed to have had a stiff backbone. And refusing the OBE was his own way of standing up and being counted.

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zepaniah saw a letter from the prime minister's office as he woke up and when in his own word wondering how the government could be overthrown and what could replace it. He could not reconcile himself with the idea of being awarded an OB E.

"I get angry when I hear the word 'empire' ; it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds of how my foremothers were raped and forefathers brutalised....Benjamin Obadiah Zepaniah OBE- no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire."

Born of a postman father from Barbados and a Jamaican mother who was a nurse in the Handsworth district of Birmingham, Zepaniah growing up struggled with dyslexia However, he started writing poetry from the age of 11 and his first reading of it was in a church.

Much of his work was influenced by Jamaican music and poetry. Zepaniah gave early indication of his bent of mind when he dubbed Handsworth, "the European capital of Jamaica." As a young poet, he had a loyal following in keeping with his reputation who would go on to big things. By the age of 15, Zepaniah was well known among the Afro-Carribean and Asian communities of Handsworth.

Zephaniah's life and career took an upward turn when he went to London and kept company with his own kind-poets and artists. Obstacles of an abbreviated schooling and being an dyslexic was overcome. Whatever he wanted to say, he said it straight. He spoke directly to his burgeoning audience showing little patience from abstractions, allusions and complicated imagery.

He sought to break away from academia and bring poetry to everyone..To make it accessible to people of all backgrounds, he made his poetry performance convert like. Photographed and filmed a lot, he was easily recognisable. It helped his poetry reach a wider audience.

Zephaniaha had a sharp eye on global affairs expressing the desire to see a free South Africa and a free Palestine..This wish remaining half-fulfilled. His contribution was acknowledged by Nelson Mandela when the first single Wallers recorded with Bob Marley " Free South Africa,': with Zephaniah on the vocals which Mandela heard in Roden Island. Later on his first visit to Britain, Mandela sought him out.

There was no comparable progress on the Palestinian front except a travelogue interspersed with poetry, Rasta Time in Palestine. A Rastafarian, Zephaniah was a member of Britain's Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Not quite an iconoclast, he accepted the accolades of the literary establishment and was willing to assist British Council in disseminating British multiculturalism. But Zephaniah drew the line at kowtowing to political establishment as manifest in his refusal of the OBE.

When he died, diagnosed with brain tumour at the age of 65, Zephaniah went gently into the good night. His was a lifetime spent raging against a dying light. Zephaniah liberated poetry from the pages and brought it to the people. I think poetry should be alive to dance to it, he said.. His endearing lisp and his Caribbean-flavoured tones will be sorely missed. But he remains relevant like much of his verse. (IPA Service)