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achilleanshelves's review
4.0
The Fire People: A Collection of British Black and Asian Poetry, edited by Lemm Sissay is an adult collection of poetry, as titled, by British Black and Asian poets both new and familiar. Included are the works of Chris Abani, Patience Agbabi, Malika Booker, John Citizen, Salena Godden, Lorraine Griffiths, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jackie Kay, Parm Kaur, Shamshad Khan, Cheryl Martin, Raman Mundair, Bunmi Ogunsiji, Koye Oyedeji, Mallissa Read, Vanessa Richards, Khefri Cybele Riley aka KA'frique, Roger Robinson, Joy Russell, Kadija Sesay, John Siddique, Labi Siffre, Lemn Sissay, Dorothea Smartt, Andria Smith, SuAndi, Tricky, Akure Wall and Marie Guise Williams.
I enjoyed this collection and how unapologetic it was as each of the poets within explored their roots and heritage. The discussions of ancestry and legacy are so profound and equally lovely and devastating to me that they filled me with so much emotion, exactly the reaction I want to feel when reading poetry.
I had read works by Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jackie Kay, Lemm Sissay and Dorothea Smartt before and found their works in this to be equally as amazing as I expected them to be but my main takeaway from this story is a plethora of poets who are new to me whose work I can now pursue. I think anyone looking for a new poet(s) to follow and binge the work of can read this book, sample each of the poet’s work and make a choice of who they’d like to continue reading because this is an excellent resource for that; while of course also being a wonderful and cohesive collection in and of itself.
I enjoyed this collection and how unapologetic it was as each of the poets within explored their roots and heritage. The discussions of ancestry and legacy are so profound and equally lovely and devastating to me that they filled me with so much emotion, exactly the reaction I want to feel when reading poetry.
I had read works by Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jackie Kay, Lemm Sissay and Dorothea Smartt before and found their works in this to be equally as amazing as I expected them to be but my main takeaway from this story is a plethora of poets who are new to me whose work I can now pursue. I think anyone looking for a new poet(s) to follow and binge the work of can read this book, sample each of the poet’s work and make a choice of who they’d like to continue reading because this is an excellent resource for that; while of course also being a wonderful and cohesive collection in and of itself.
daisyvb's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
A well curated collection that covers a range of emotions and stylistic tone, highlighting lesser known poets/artists and their work, allowing space and time for their experiences and creations to be read and considered.
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