Kev Inn

Kev Inn is a poet, teacher and social historian. As a poet, he has performed at a number of open mic nights in London. As a teacher, he has taught sociology at three different inner-city London colleges, and as a researcher, he has completed a PhD project, and worked at the University of Birmingham. Kev Inn has had work published in the Race and Class journal, and contributed a chapter to the book, Black British History: New Perspectives, published by Zed in 2019. His forthcoming pamphlet with WP, Adventures in Racial Capitalism, is his first poetry collection.

The Self(ie) and the Other
(Inspired by a Visit to the West End)

Selfie stick!
A selfie stick?
Put away your selfie stick,
I’d be more than happy to take a pic,
Put down your selfie stick,

I see you awkwardly tryna angle it,
Using the front-facing camera, with its lower-rated spec,
Extend it out to get everything in,
So should I offer to take a pic?

I’m not a rapist (fuck you DW Griffith),
Mugger (fuck the right-wing British Press),
Or any kind of threat,
I’d help an old lady cross the street.
And I’d love to take a pic!

Our line of vision clicks,
Maybe they’ve got social anxiety?
Perhaps they don’t wanna burden me with it?
Perhaps they’re from overseas and not fluent enough in English?
But I’d dance around around ya,
like Carlos Acosta,
with a camera,
taking pics,
Get Big Ben in, St Paul’s, and all that colonial shit!

I walk by expectantly,
But their gaze starts to dip,
And it feels like they crossed the street,
Saw me coming and put their bags down on the seat.

Damn, stop being so fucking sensitive, and overthinking it!
Just turn right around and offer to take a pic!
Oh, they’ve already asked the white guy following behind to do it.

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