Ordinary Guy: (No. 1 Poetry S.)

This is page after page of challenging and thought provoking contemporary poetry. True to the teachings of his Master the legendary Gil Scott Heron, Mark T. Watson emerges as one of a new generation of young black poets wanting to take the struggle to the next level. Born in Liverpool, brought up by the care system, straddling two worlds, that of a white Mother and a black Father, or a seaman writing about he world he sees and a student of Gil Scott Heron travelling the world with his poetic mentor writing as he goes along, Mark masterfully weaves all of these strands together to afford the reader something one could only describe as a totally new approach to contemporary poetry. His yearning to get back to Africa, his distaste for so-called democracy which denies him the basic freedoms it purports to defend, his aversion to war mongers and his love of the beauty of creation, all flow in a rhythmic cascade of poetic expression that would surely make his mentor proud. It is a must read collection.

About the Author :
Mark T Watson was born in Liverpool UK in the mid sixties to mixed parents. His mother a Welsh woman raised him after the tragic paralysis of his Guyanese father when he was just a boy. Mark has been a dish washer, a toilet cleaner, a milkman, a labourer, a potato bagger, a salesman, a merchant seaman, an advertising manager, a marketing co-ordinator, a tour manager, a roadie, a sales and marketing manager, a researcher, a research project manager, a business advisor, the director of Merseyside Refugee Support Network, a director of Hornby Housing, a director of a housing CO-OP, an author and a publisher. He holds a BA Hons. in Geography & Sociology, a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Social Research and is an Associate of The Institute of Business Advisors. Mark Converted to Islam after meeting the Last Poets and became Malik Al Nasir, founder of Fore-Word Press. He has recently made a film about his life and based upon his book "Ordinary Guy" called "Word Up - From Ghetto to Mecca" featuring Gil Scott Heron, The Last Poets and Benjamin Zephaniah, release on DVD 2006.

Review :
"Exhilarating! This must read collection, is a black Liverpudlians odyssey to find his 'truth' expressed in beautiful but always hard hitting poetry". Eddie Amoo (The Real Thing). "Mark Watson has spent years touring and hanging out with 'Gil Scott Heron' and 'The Last Poets'. Check out the foreword of his book. This has been some life". Pete Wylie (The Mighty WAH). "As a white man living in Liverpool, I felt privileged to read these powerful poems, which give some insight into the emotions and history of the black people of this city. These aren't poems about 'daffodils' they're about human beings and their lives. Mark is no 'ordinary guy' but he gives voice to all the ordinary lives of black people in this city." Roger Phillips (BBC Radio Merseyside).