A review by kit_kate
All the Names Given: Poems by Raymond Antrobus

challenging emotional reflective

4.5

I had heard good things about this poetry collection and when I found a copy in my local library I decided to give it a go. I consider myself as quite a novice when it comes to poetry. I am slow, usually reading each page more than once, trying to digest the words as best I can but often with a feeling like I'm missing something. 

With this collection I feel like I have read something special, with poems highlighting identity, the legacies of slavery, growing up in Hackney and deafness. On a first read some of the poems resonated with me more than others. When I found the notes pages in the back I looked up many of the references and read the poems again and I feel like I got so much more from them the second time around. 

I would recommend this wholeheartedly. Raymond Antrobus shares his experience and perspective in such an honest, thought-provoking and direct way. Those poems that I feel will particularly stick in my mind include, Plantation Paint, For Tyrone Givans and Arose.