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Poor

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

Brought to you by Penguin.

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 21st-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.'

©2020 Caleb Femi (P)2020 Penguin Audio Poetry Poverty & Homelessness Racism & Discrimination Social Sciences Discrimination

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Critic reviews

"An urban romantic...powerful." (Dazed & Confused)

"A poet of truth and rage, heartbreak and joy." (Max Porter)

All stars
Most relevant  
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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Stunning! Should be on the school curriculum. It was read well and the imagery will haunt me for weeks.

.

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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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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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Dad Brandonand Mum kim. You will enjoy this book .It will open up your mind and you will be blessed. 💜😊

Rich by Queenie Carty-williams

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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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I haven't been so moved by poetry since The Liverpool Poets in the sixties.
Truly remarkable.

Phenomenal

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