It is with great sadness we learn of the death of writer and poet Dr Benjamin Zephaniah who was a valued and beloved patron of The Prison Phoenix Trust.
For over two decades, Benjamin advocated for prisoners – and the work of our charity bringing hope and healing through meditation and yoga.
He represented the Trust’s work offering non-judgemental support for the spiritual development of people in prison, whatever their faith or none, on the radio and at public events. His poem, ‘In-exhale’, was written specifically to help people in prison and we share it below.
Benjamin joined The Prison Phoenix Trust at many events over the years, perhaps most memorably at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in 2005 for the launch of the book Freeing The Spirit in which his poem ‘In-exhale’ was first published. This book has inspired more 20,000 prisoners to practise meditation and yoga since it published and is still one of the most requested at the charity.
He also wrote the forward to the book Peace Inside: A Prisoner’s Guide to Meditation, drawing on his own experiences of borstal and prison. “If you’re finding it hard in prison,” he wrote, “and very few people don’t find it hard – meditation is something that will make a real difference. Meditation is a way of not just surviving but thriving in prison because it taps into that natural intelligence that we all have.”
Former director of The PPT Sandy Chubb recalls: “With his love of words and absolute kindness, he related to people. His words reached out to those in prison. He never made you feel different.”
A supporter says: “I have warm memories of him speaking and of how well he combined personal insight with ‘laugh out loud’ humour.”
Ex-inhale
Wise men travel many miles
Wise women sail the seas,
A wise man can fly many days
To find a well-wise tree,
Intellectuals and scholars
Find it so hard to believe,
It’s not about location
It’s about the way you breathe.
The body that wins prizes
Cannot sustain the dream,
The protein and the vitamins
Will never reign supreme,
Every mirror that is made
Is programmed to deceive,
It’s not about the muscles
It’s about the way you breathe.
Sometimes there is confusion
Between the left and right,
Sometimes you’ll find we all look out
When we need insight,
But once you have found balance
It’s easy to conceive,
It’s not about resistance
It’s about the way you breathe.
It’s folly to take simple verse
And make them complicated,
The humble breath does not need words
To be communicated,
When big ideas have come and gone
There is no need to grieve,
It’s not about great speeches
It’s about the way you breathe.
Benjamin Zephaniah 1958 – 2023