WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION
Chosen as a Book of the Year by New Statesman, Financial Times, Guardian, Observer, Rough Trade and the BBC
Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize
Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize
'Restlessly inventive, brutally graceful, startlingly beautiful ... a landmark debut' Guardian
'Oh my God, he's just stirring me. Destroying me' Michaela Coel
'A poet of truth and rage, heartbreak and joy' Max Porter
'Takes us into new literary territory ... impressive' Bernardine Evaristo, New Statesman (Books of the Year)
'It's simply stunning. Every image is a revelation' Terrance Hayes
What is it like to grow up in a place where the same police officer who told your primary school class they were special stops and searches you at 13 because 'you fit the description of a man' - and where it is possible to walk two and a half miles through an estate of 1,444 homes without ever touching the ground?
In Poor, Caleb Femi combines poetry and original photography to explore the trials, tribulations, dreams and joys of young Black boys in twenty-first century Peckham. He contemplates the ways in which they are informed by the built environment of concrete walls and gentrifying neighbourhoods that form their stage, writes a coded, near-mythical history of the personalities and sagas of his South London youth, and pays tribute to the rappers and artists who spoke to their lives.
Above all, this is a tribute to the world that shaped a poet, and to the people forging difficult lives and finding magic within it. As Femi writes in one of the final poems of this book: 'I have never loved anything the way I love the endz.'
| ISBN: | 9780141992150 |
| Publication date: | 5th November 2020 |
| Author: | Caleb Femi |
| Publisher: | Penguin Books an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 140 pages |
| Series: | Penguin Poetry |
| Genres: |
Poetry by individual poets Material culture Social discrimination and social justice Poverty and precarity Urban and municipal planning and policy Architecture: residential and domestic buildings Modern and contemporary poetry (c 1900 onwards) |
WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION
Chosen as a Book of the Year by New Statesman, Financial Times, Guardian, Observer, Rough Trade and the BBC
Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize
Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize
'Restlessly inventive, brutally graceful, startlingly beautiful ... a landmark debut' Guardian
'Oh my God, he's just stirring me. Destroying me' Michaela Coel
'A poet of truth and rage, heartbreak and joy' Max Porter
'Takes us into new literary territory ... impressive' Bernardine Evaristo, New Statesman (Books of the Year)
'It's simply stunning. Every image is a revelation' Terrance Hayes
What is it like to grow up in a place where the same police officer who told your primary school class they were special stops and searches you at 13 because 'you fit the description of a man' - and where it is possible to walk two and a half miles through an estate of 1,444 homes without ever touching the ground?
In Poor, Caleb Femi combines poetry and original photography to explore the trials, tribulations, dreams and joys of young Black boys in twenty-first century Peckham. He contemplates the ways in which they are informed by the built environment of concrete walls and gentrifying neighbourhoods that form their stage, writes a coded, near-mythical history of the personalities and sagas of his South London youth, and pays tribute to the rappers and artists who spoke to their lives.
Above all, this is a tribute to the world that shaped a poet, and to the people forging difficult lives and finding magic within it. As Femi writes in one of the final poems of this book: 'I have never loved anything the way I love the endz.'
Poor features in the following genres: Poetry by individual poets, Material culture, Social discrimination and social justice, Poverty and precarity, Urban and municipal planning and policy, Architecture: residential and domestic buildings, Modern and contemporary poetry (c 1900 onwards)
Poor is available in Paperback
Poor was written by Caleb Femi and published by Penguin Books an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd
Poor has 140 pages
Yes it is part of Penguin Poetry series
£9.89