Divisible by Itself and One: Kae Tempest

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Everyone needs to hear and feel the raw sometimes, and these collections always manage the reflection without the melancholy - more stating as a fact but without burying the pain purposefully deep or out of reach. 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. I seen them perform some of these poems in person this week and if you have the chance to do the same I can’t recommend enough. Groaning in the empty garden in a moment that lasted till now, the almighty swore they'd never live again.

Stories of transformation hold a central place in Tempest’s work, their best to date; here, the poet considers the changes that are sometimes required to be oneself. The bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between: this is the fifth volume of the Heartstopper series.Stories of transformation hold a central place in Tempest's work, their best to date; here, the poet considers the changes that are sometimes required to be oneself. The one thing that I find impressive about all of Kae Tempest's work is the nice rhythm that carries through their poetry. Divisible by Itself and One is the powerful new collection from our foremost truth-teller Kae Tempest. The Loop" was the standout, and the final poem, a "Love Song" dedicated to the LGBT+ community was a powerful and beautiful way to close the collection. Taking its bearings - and title - from the prime number, Divisible by Itself and One is concerned, ultimately, with integrity: how to live in honest relationship with oneself and others.

They received Mercury Music Prize nominations for both of the albums Everybody Down and Let Them Eat Chaos , and two Ivor Novello nominations for their song-writing on The Book of Traps and Lessons .

Ruminative, wise, with a newer, more contemplative and metaphysical note running through, it is a book engaged with the big questions and the emotional states in which we live and create. 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.

Taking its bearings – and title – from the prime number, Divisible by Itself and One is concerned, ultimately, with integrity: how to live in honest relationship with oneself and others. As with most poetry collection, there were some poems I liked better than others and I do think I like some of Tempest's other works better, but this was still very good and very powerful!

I think I will read whatever Kae Tempest will publish, even though the poems in this collection didn’t speak to me as much as their previous work. I think my favorites were "Mountain road at midnight, Crete" and "The loop", although there were quite a few that made me underline lines like crazy and subsequently lead me to stare at my bedroom ceiling for half an hour (which is my preferred outcome for reading poetry).