Too Black, Too Strong

‘Too Black Too Strong is Benjamin Zephaniah’s third collection from Bloodaxe. It addresses the struggles of black Britain more forcefully than all his previous books. With poems like ‘Chant of a Homesick Nigga’ and ‘Kill Them Before Ramadan’, he shows that he’s a poet who won’t stay silent, who doesn’t pull any punches, writing out of a sense of urgency and a commitment to social justice. He opens this hard-hitting and blackly funny book of poems with an outspoken comment on where he’s coming from, setting his poetry against the political landscape of Britain. The book includes poems written while working with Michael Mansfield QC and other Tooks barristers on the Stephen Lawrence case.