Street Crhymes

Book excerpt: Justin Rollins has a remarkable ability. His poems emerge not from agonising over a blank sheet of paper, but in rap-like fashion, in full-flow and in their complete form. This collection takes the reader on a journey on which those familiar with his autobiographical The Lost Boyz will recognise the landmarks as the streets and characters of his native south-London once again spring into life. But this is fresh and captivating work. It deals with the everyday effects of disadvantage, the tensions of wealth and poverty, freedom and incarceration with glimpses of a sometimes dark past, motivational now and uncertain though optimistic future. What registers strongly is Rollins’ eye for detail, injustice, the telling remark, the eccentric, the absurd, clandestine places and parallel realities. Much of this is driven by his years living on the streets chasing excitement to compensate for the lack of things that come through a conventional upbringing. The result is a raw journey captured in snapshots of survival, crime, pain and the author’s travels on the Northern Line.