Rae Leviné responds to London’s knife crime with heartfelt poem ‘Black Kings’
When times are tough some choose escapism, others choose engagement. South London’s Rae Leviné is gracefully walking the line between both with her stimulating spoken word poetry.
In her latest audio poem, ‘Black Kings’, Leviné returns to the subject of violence among London’s black youth.
“That bullet or knife wound is a mother’s broken pray / A mother’s worst nightmare / You can’t trust the system… Yet we can’t trust our own / These stabbings are like a viral infection,” she says.
And further on: “You cannot scream the words, ‘black lives matter’, and then stab one of your own / See then, those words they become scattered / They no longer stick an hold its own, because you killed another king who never made it home.”
Listen to Leviné’s poem below.
Leviné’s recent work includes her powerful anti-gun poem ‘Guns Talk Too Much Part 2’, and the sensual ‘Women’s Talk’.
Find Leviné on Twitter and Instagram.
Image: courtesy of Rae Leviné