And That
After seeing a childhood friend outside a chicken shop in Dalston
Chicken wings / and datBoss man / salt in them / and datDon’t assault man / give man a nap—Kin / Big man / no steroid / and datDark times / new street lights / and datHow’s man? / I’m getting by / and datStill / boy dem / harassNot beefin’ / Not tagged / man / still trappedCycle man / pedallin' / and datOn road / new pavements / levelled / and datCrackney changed / still / stay dwelling / and datParadise moves / but I got to land grabWe E8 / East man / ain’t got to adaptOur Kingdom / got no land to hand backMan / chat breeze / chatTrade winds / and datYou out ends / got good job / legit / and dat?Locked off man dem / stay plotting / and datRah, Ray / Flower shorts? / You hipster / in datMan gone / Vegan? / No chicken wings / and dat
Feature Date
- November 5, 2021
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“And That” from ALL THE NAMES GIVEN: by Raymond Antrobus.
Published by Tin House November 30th, 2021.
Copyright © 2021 by Raymond Antrobus.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Adam Docker
Raymond Antrobus was born in London to an English mother and Jamaican father. His debut poetry collection The Perseverance (Tin House) won the Ted Hughes Award, the Sunday Times/University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award and the Rathbones Folio Prize. It was also shortlisted for The Griffin Poetry Prize and The Forward Prize. Antrobus’ second collection All The Names Given (Tin House) has been shortlisted for the 2021 T. S. Eliot Prize. He is a Cave Canem Fellow and he divides his time between London and New Orleans.
“Brave, tender and generous. . . . A haunting study of what we can find in the silences of history when history is recognized as more than a noun, when recognized as something alive and kinetic.” —Camonghne Felix, author of Build Yourself a Boat
“Powerful. . . . Antrobus beautifully pays witness to the legacy of colonialism while providing another gripping meditation on language and communication.”
—Publishers Weekly
“What a beautiful book Raymond Antrobus has written! I love it. So much pain, so much tenderness, so much music and invention and passion in All The Names Given. Truly, it is terrific. Antrobus has a special gift of making music from stories and giving his lyrics gravity and urgency that’s inimitable.”
—Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic
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