Steve Tasane
Steve has been a supporter of Survivors’ Poetry since its inception, and his writing has consistently been informed by his traumatic upbringing, refugee heritage and bereavement. read more…
A Prayer For Healing
For those whose family name is shame,
whose hearts beat out self-hate,
whose long line of dysfunction
prompts a pre-determined fate;
where society’s good citizens
with their judgement-filled agenda
say we should keep our heads down,
hold our hands up and surrender.
Cos if you trouble trouble
you know it’ll trouble you,
and if you hug a monster
its claws will cuddle you;
and the ones who hurt the most
are the ones who are most hurtful;
and the ones who yell the loudest
only give themselves an earful.
We can shut that door behind us,
desperate for some closure,
but the garden path we’re led up
only leads to more exposure.
We can pack self-pity in a bag,
hit the road and roam,
but a million miles are meaningless
when we end up right back home;
cos the journey of our life
is circular not linear,
and the compass that is guiding us
leads us back to the familiar,
where home isn’t where the heart is.
home is where the hurt is;
and even though we scrub ourselves,
we’re drawn back to where the dirt is.
For how can we forgive ourselves
without forgiveness for our brothers?
Or give true love to our kids
if we can’t forgive our mothers?
How can self-acceptance be achieved
if our nature is rejected,
in family portraits all cracked up
where we are self-reflected?
If we keep on picking at that scab
we know it’ll never heal.
But sometimes scratching at our wounds
is the only way to feel.
We can’t block or unfriend ourselves
if our toxicity is viral,
or hold ourselves up to account
if we let resentments spiral.
We can only find recovery
if we admit that we are lost,
or figure out how to be free
if we face up to the cost.
To be welcomed in a healing space
relies on our admission.
To make each day a better day
just needs our own permission.
So let’s hold out the hand of friendship,
make amends for misdemeanours,
rebuild bridges that we’ve broken,
don’t let demons come between us.
Let us multiply our blessings,
not pile up our damnations;
make our circles virtuous,
seek out healthier sensations.
Let us write a brighter future,
picture positive depictions,
and break the hurtful habit
of being addicted to affliction.
We are strugglers, we are strivers,
but our bleeding hearts can thrive.
We are battle-scarred survivors,
crying out to be alive.
Steve has been a major performer and organiser on the UK spoken word scene for over 25 years, staging ground-breaking shows for Apples and Snakes in the mid Nineties, and kickstarting the populist Litpop movement with his poetry pop group Atomic Lip, co-ordinating the 3-day Litpop98 Festival at London’s 100 Club and the Channel 4 poetry video series of the same name, later co-running the weekly Pure Poetry show with the Speech Painter at Soho Theatre.
He presently runs White Feather Poetry nights, in celebratory opposition to an increasingly artificial and censorious political and social landscape. A multiple slam-winner, and award-winning children’s novelist, Steve sees no separation between his work as a writer and his work as an agitator.
His play for 4-8 year olds, 10 In The Bed, about the child refugee experience, was nationally toured in 2024 by Half Moon Children’s Theatre, and in 2025 he launched the Arts Council-funded Positivity in Practice online guide to creative wellbeing in the UK’s schools: https://stevetasane.wixsite.com/my-site-1
email: stevetasane@hotmail.com
Steve also makes YouTube videos of his poems, a small sample of which can be viewed here:
The Gift of Giving
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-LAR7sbwNE&t=7s
Teardrops Are A Beautiful Thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rJ7hzyjbyw
Screaming For Peace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vdMFcihQvM&t=99s