Tish Ince

Tish welcomed me at her home in Tewkesbury and together we made a series of photographs.

Patricia Ince, known to many as Tish Ince Poet Writer, is an award-winning poet, writer, publisher, nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and winner of a Paper Nations Marginalised Writer Award for the South West.  Her Tewkesbury home serves as both sanctuary and creative studio, where she crafts poetry and books that bridge Trinidadian rhythm, Irish and Black British experience, and Gloucestershire life. Her published works include Good Grief...Please! She Writes Poetry, with forthcoming titles; The San Francisco Story, Coming Home, and Black Sheep and The London Help. She writes and performs across international, national, and local stages, most recently returning to Stroud Brewery and Tap Room for Amplified Voices Black History Month. Her work and writing programmes invite readers to find voice, strength, and beauty in everyday stories, offering lyrical witness to grief, resilience, and belonging.

Follow her work: https://tishincepoetwriter.com | Socials @tishincepoetwriter | Amazon: Tish Ince Poet Writer

Tish has kindly shared a poem

Listen

Yo neva listen?

Yo’ think this be a first time?

Me tell yo’ sumtin

never be a second an third

tek it now

yo’ think dis a beatin’?

Me tell yo’ no one run as fass as me

like monkey up a tree

snake all aroun’ England

since nineteen fifhe tree!

You work, seen?

Smile as yo’ cleaning shit

don’t no one but yo’

haf e suffer it

don’t let men touch you

like yo’ some exotic peach

be four hundred year

since we done reach

keep dat pen beside yo’ bed

like a sword

keep yo’ safe at night

write dem dreams

Live them!!

Come back wit yo'

back-a-yard word

an’ shine yo’ light

nah waste it in a drink

dancing with devil

watch him make yo’ twirl

think!

He spin yo’ head?

Feet nah touch ground

but him move sly so

wait fe yo’ to fall down

proud of nuthin’

c’yan be anyting yo’ waaant!

But still not listenin?

daaghta’ of doubt

Stan’ here in front a me

stop yo’ cryin g’yal

listaaaan to guide-dance

haf a cheek to

aks for ‘L’ard deliver me’

ssssstop and Lisssssteeeen

Tssssch mek me suk teeth

me a guiiiiiide yo’

haf me like me a Marcus Garvey

come daaghta’

yo a Trini queen

farda’ none prouder

than a spirit ever been.

Me a watch’

mek soup sleep early

tek tea

rise at sun up

an write for all a we.

27/6/23 - Tish Ince Poet Writer

This spoken-word piece channels ancestral fire and Trinidadian rhythm to confront generational trauma, colonial legacy, and the power of self-authorship. Written in dialect and delivered with lyrical urgency, the poem guides a daughter of doubt toward strength, clarity, and creative resistance. It’s a poetic invocation, calling on heritage, warning against exploitation, and urging the pen as sword. This work exemplifies Patricia’s signature style: rooted in heritage, faith, and sisterhood, with a voice that refuses silence and dances between grief and glory.