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Poor

By: Caleb Femi
Narrated by: Caleb Femi
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

'An urban romantic ... powerful' Dazed & Confused
'A poet of truth and rage, heartbreak and joy' Max Porter

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 explores 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.'

© Caleb Femi 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

 Anthropology Architecture Home Design & Renovation House & Home Poetry Politics & Government Poverty & Homelessness Social Sciences Sociology Urban Discrimination

Critic reviews

An urban romantic . . . powerful
Caleb Femi is a gift to us all from the storytelling gods. He is a poet of truth and rage, heartbreak and joy. But above all, this is love poetry. Love of community, language, music and form. This book flows from the fabric of boyhood to the politics and architecture of agony, from the material to the spiritual, always moving, always real. Poor is the heartbeat of a living city which truly knows itself. Caleb is a mighty and positive force in UK culture and this is a vital book (Max Porter, author of Lanny)
All stars
Most relevant
loved it, will listen again. Caleb is a sta.r. Life as it is living on an estate, Damiola, Grenfell.

Brillant

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Beautiful poetry read exquisitely by the poet. Honest, heartfelt and authentic experience of growing up in London. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to hear it, it has made me feel and understand a lot of what growing up in London for a young man of colour from a working class background is like. Thank you!

Stunning

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Demi’s handle on language and life in the end will transform your perspective; you will never look at an estate or a hoodie in the same way again.

More precise than a mirror

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As a black boy who likes writing, this touched me i often caught my self pausing and annotating my actual book as i listened to the audiobook. Thank you for this piece of art.

AMAZING

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full of truth. living breathing experience and life. It feels real and present, read superbly by the author.

poetry that's alive

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