On Thursday night I was eating with Anna at Venerdi (it means Friday in Italian) on Chatsworth Road in Hackney. The pavement table was a perfect match for enjoyable conversation and fantastic food. Then something magical happened. A woman and her daughter walked past…..then they returned…. “My daughter wants to ask if you are Lemn Sissay”. Never being one to miss an occasion to affirm my identity to anybody I replied. “yes”. She told me the classroom at her Primary School is named SISSAY and each day this week she has been presenting the class with information about the person who the class is named after!
We took a photograph and her mum posted it on twitter which is why I am sharing this story with you now. This is my chance to say Thankyou to Class Sissay. You have made me very very VERY happy today. When so much is happening in the world you remembered me. I was also told that another classroom is named after the poet Jackie Kay. She is my good friend so I am even more happy. Thankyou again.
Totally awestruck. My daughter just met @lemnsissay. Inspirational poet her new @LF_Primary class is named after who she's been talking about all week. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/qIdfQ7P5lH
— Penny O (@penny_othen) September 10, 2020
Oh, she is so sweet! I still laugh when I think I had no idea who you were when I meet you. I am sure you get loads of compliments but I will say it anyway, you have a truly generous spirit and I am reminded of it by the pure delight expressed in this picture. It’s so much easier to become a bitter, angry person but you haven’t – you overcame – you transformed and channeled the negative into something wonderful. This is a rare quality. There’s a class called, Sissay! And, your not a smoker anymore! CHEERING!
Thankyou!!
Further confirmation, if it were needed, that you are a class act. 🙂 It’s wonderful that you still take the time, even in this moment we are experiencing.
Lemn Sissay, you have made us very happy too. We have been reading some of your poems and learning about you. You are a great inspiration to us and we love your poem “”Colour Blind”. Thank you to you too, from Sissay class.
Thankyou! 🙂