Brand New Ancients by Kate Tempest

The transition from rapper and performance poet to page poet is not an easy one, but Kate Tempest has managed it with graceful ease. Brand New Ancients is the culmination of her success so far, for which she has earned the Ted Hughes Award for Innovation in Poetry. Tempest has toured the UK with this epic poem set to a musical score, most recently appearing to sell-out crowds at the Fringe.

The poem focuses on two inner-city families whose lives are irrevocably woven together. Drawing heavily on Ancient Greek mythology, it tells of characters whose lives may at first seem mundane, but which hang heavily with acts of bravery, brutality and love no less worthy than those found in the gods of old: ‘The Gods are still here,/ Because the gods are in us.’

Performance poetry often loses something vital when it appears on the page, but this is certainly not the case here. The poem is shocking and all consuming, leaving the reader hungry for more of the gritty beauty of Tempest’s words. Despite the bleak urban backdrop, the poem is ultimately redemptive: ‘You born for greatness; / believe it. Know it./ Take it from the tears of poets.’ [Rosie Hopegood]