Portrait of Colossus by Samatar Elmi

Portrait of Colossus by Samatar Elmi

Portrait of Colossus is a searingly forthright début that navigates parenting, masculinity, racism and ambiguities of identity. It articulates, with skill and sly humour, the migrant experience from the perspective of the second generation, the ones who “know [England]/ more than everywhere else/ put together”. Brimming with vulnerability and pitched between the lilt of hooyo's admonitions and Ted Hughes' eye for the natural world, many of the poems reconcile disparate worlds, cultures and identities, firing them with the lyricism of Dawud's Psalms. Samatar seamlessly blends influences from Somali oral history, Ovidian tales and Homer’s Odyssey into a poetics that makes Portrait of Colossus cathartic, musical, emotionally satisfying as well as erudite.

"Samatar Elmi's Portrait of Colossus is the work of a hybrid sensibility taking its cues equally from the rhythms and narrative drive of the Hip Hop emcee and the wisdom of a true historian; one who looks at the world and sees not just the world as it is but as it has been, as it might yet be" – Kayo Chingonyi

Poet, educator and musician, Samatar Elmi's work plays in the liminal spaces between racial, socio-cultural and political identity claims. A graduate of Peepal Tree Press's Young Inscribe Mentoring Program, his work has been published in journals such as Magma, Ink Sweat and Tears and Iota, as well as in the anthology filigree. Samatar has previously been shortlisted for the Venture Award, the Complete Works II and New Generation African Poets. Portrait of Colossus is his début pamphlet.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781905233618
ISBN 10	1905233612
Title	Portrait of Colossus
Author	Samatar Elmi
Series	Flap Series
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Flipped Eye Publishing Limited
Year published	2021-01-28
Number of pages	34
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.