: It rebels against man-made divisions like "First," "Second," and "Third World" and expresses outrage against apartheid , racism , fascism , and the Ku Klux Klan .
: The poem claims to be "copied from" diverse sources—the Bible, prayer books, the New York Times, and even CIA/KGB files—to show its relevance to all facets of human life and surveillance.
: It begins by addressing the "wretched sea" that brought slave ships to Caribbean shores and the cries of mothers for their children lost to that sea. Dis Poem
: The poem describes itself as "knives, bombs, guns, blood, fire blazing for freedom" and likens its rhythm to a drum or a shanty. Themes and Style
is the most famous work by the renowned Jamaican Rastafari dub poet Mutabaruka . First released in 1986, the poem is a powerful, rhythmic critique of historical and systemic oppression, designed to be heard and felt as much as understood. The Narrative of "Dis Poem" : It rebels against man-made divisions like "First,"
Rather than telling a linear story about characters, "Dis Poem" tells the story of .
: Mutabaruka explicitly states that "dis poem is still not written" because it is a part of an ongoing, untold story that continues in the listener's mind. : The poem describes itself as "knives, bombs,
: It invokes a pantheon of revolutionary figures, including Malcolm X , Marcus Garvey , Patrice Lumumba , Jomo Kenyatta , and Haile Selassie .