Unashamed‘s Harry Baker is a mathematician, comedian, and poet. In 2012, at the age of 20, he became the youngest-ever World Poetry Slam Champion, and in 2014 he published his first collection, The Sunshine Kid With The Burning Eye, to positive reviews. A year later, he used the same title for his one-man show at the Edinburgh Festival, where it won Best Spoken Word Show.
These are impressive achievements, and on paper should mean Baker’s new collection, Unashamed, will be worth attention. Unfortunately, on paper, these poems rarely come to life: the problem is that while Baker clearly loves numbers and takes a calculated approach to his work, there is a lack of craft in his lines, with a reliance on obvious and forced rhymes.
As well as numbers, Baker loves words, and he is articulate in the prose sections he uses to break up the collection, linking the poems together in an honest and moving way. These sections, though, are much more engaging than the poems themselves, which lean heavily on mediocre wordplay (“Ne-Yo/was so sick of love songs/until he saw my knee, yo”). This stuff might work when performed live, but the page is less forgiving.
Unashamed, Harry Baker (Burning Eye)
Price: £9.99. Info: here
words JOSHUA REES
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