Book Review: Read My Lips

Brand New Ancients

by Kate Tempest
Bloomsbury, 64 pp., $15 (paper)

Hold Your Own

by Kate Tempest
Bloomsbury, 128 pp., $17 (paper)

These two poetry collections don't pertain to music per se, but their unabashed attitude and fierce energy screams "rock & roll." Poet, playwright, soon-to-be novelist, and spoken word artist/rapper, Kate Tempest took SXSW 2015 by storm, exuding heartfelt sincerity coupled with an in-your-face delivery. Live, she's riveting. Likewise, her written words fly off the page with a verve and cadence that provides its own beat-driven soundtrack. In fact, narrative poem "Brand New Ancients," winner of the coveted Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, was written as a performance piece and meant to be read aloud. Set in Tempest's southeast London 'hood, it arcs a contemporary tale of two intertwined families with more than a passing confluence to "the ancients." Similarly, Hold Your Own blends the myth of male/female, Greek prophet Tiresias with Tempest's personal history, and insightful social commentary. Its haunting anti-Iraq War "Ballad of a Hero" and wise-beyond-her-29-years "These Things I Know" are particularly memorable. At their best, Tempest's poems evoke a knowing universality that connects us not only to our own foibles and humanity but also to those of our forefathers. (Kate Tempest's Holy Mountain appearance on Saturday, May 30, is sold out.)