Here, Tempest shows how the old myths still live on in our everyday acts of violence, bravery, sacrifice and love – and that our lives make tales no less dramatic and powerful than those of the old gods.

The long poem chronicles the story of two families in south London and explores everyday heroism, family life, working-class life, the human condition, and myth. People glass and get glassed, fuck and get fucked; there's no system to intervene, nor anything one can do save try to be "the kind of god a god can trust.

It is entirely possible that this issue is one I only noticed because I read the poem instead of listening to it being performed; I might not have paid so much attention to the narrative structure otherwise. The one thing Tempest did not manage to achieve quite so successfully, in my opinion, was the ‘plot’ of her poem and especially its links to ancient heroism. They have published plays, poems, a novel, a book-length essay, released albums and toured extensively, selling out shows from Reykjavik to Rio de Janeiro. Tempest’s gods and heroes are the everyday characters, the little people who keep getting up and keep carrying on despite all odds. Brand New Ancients is a narrative poem about two neighboring families and their intertwined experiences.

Kae Tempest (pronouns: they/them) started out when they were 16, rapping at strangers on night buses and pestering MCs to let them on the mic at raves. Questo poema è un invito a ritrovare la deità che è in ciascuno di noi, un invito a ritrovarla attraverso l'amore. I have bought her play "Wasted" which is also brilliant and I'm waiting for the new album which I have already heard so much of on Radio 6. Fuck me, but I'd rather be watching "Downton": at least no-one pretends that that anti-socialist fantasy is contemporary. Wankers of the world: you have nothing to lose but some shitty writing about doing shitty cocaine in whatever part of South London is next going condo.One note up front - while I am sure that the prose is powerful on the page alone, I listened to the audio production.

Tempest ci racconta la vita, l'amore, la monotonia, la banalità e il male in una chiave inedita e irresistibile. They received the Ted Hughes Award for their long-form narrative poem Brand New Ancients and the Leone D’Argento at the Venice Teatro Biennale for their work as a playwright. Kae Tempest is one of the most exciting and innovative performers to have emerged in spoken-word poetry in many years: this dramatic poem won the prestigious Ted Hughes Prize for innovation in poetry.Please read this poem, and read it out loud if you can; it will leave you broken and hopeful and shocked and empowered all at the same time.

An ancient god’s name here, a examination of modern godhood there, but overall much of this analogy, and especially of Tempest’s ancient inspirations, remained unexplored. I really love the parallels between the storyline of the two generations and the one more abstract about the « gods of the every day». Her poetry flows in a way that translates to the page extremely well but works even better when spoken aloud (as the poem should be, the title page advises). Un'umanità, quella di Tempest, primordiale e barbara che ha forti legami con l'arcaico e con l'antichità. The story of Mary and Brian, Jane and Kevin, and their two sons is dramatic enough to carry the reader through the poem, but it is, in the end, a superficial one.

Tempest is an accomplished musician as well as a poet, and this short book has a lyrical, musical quality. Mostly, in that it does not live up to its premise of finding the godlike in quotidian contemporary life.