Portrait of Colossus is a searingly forthright debut 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.

About the Author
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 debut pamphlet.

Reviews
"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



Book Information
ISBN 9781905233618
Author Samatar Elmi
Format Paperback
Page Count 34
Imprint Flipped Eye Publishing Limited
Publisher Flipped Eye Publishing Limited