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ButThe Wickedest,his epic poem released in the United States last week, is not a COVID-era elegy.
Photo: Courtesy of Caleb Femi
(Not for nothing did Kaia Gerbers book club, Library Science, makeThe Wickedestitspick for February.)
Femis last book, 2020sPoor, combined poetry and original photography to chart his rough south London childhood.
It was one of my mandates, going in from the start: How do we incorporate other forms?
Photo: Courtesy of Caleb Femi
Thats the whole point of nightlife, to be freer.
The most necessary ingredient for a good party is that nobody feels they have to conformtoo much, anyway.
House parties, youre invited into peoples homes, and theres something quite sacred about that.
One poem inThe Wickedestsends up Form 696, a controversial party permit devised by the London police that, from 2008 to 2017, required organizers to list which music genres and ethnic groups could be expected at an event.
As long as someone from the block recognizes your face, youre allowed in.
His field research forThe Wickedestled him to Brooklyn, Cape Town, Paris, and Jamaica.
The ecosystem of people coming together is something that is so easily targeted, he says.
Photo: Courtesy of Caleb Femi
Authenticity was the highest hurdle for Femi to clearand helped him to justify all that partying to himself.
You have to know how to halo on someones face to capture those indescribable moments.
