Kaie Kellough spells out the 21st century inheritance of multiple movements: the engaged pedigree of dub poetry, the identity politics-infused lyric, and the advancement of a so-called “spoken word” that bends–synesthetically–back to the page in concrete form. It is our luck that Kellough’s remarkable book-length experiment in form and social criticism occurs on this terrain. And it is a challenge that Canada, the black diaspora, and all followers of progressive poetics must meet. “News that stays new”? Kellough’s verse is New School that will stay New School.
Reviews
December 17, 2020