Topic Summaries

• Poet: Caleb Femi (1990–)
• Year: 2020
• Form: Free verse
• Key techniques: Second-person voice, irony, juxtaposition

About the poet

Caleb Femi is a British poet, filmmaker, and educator born in Nigeria and raised in Peckham, South London. He became the first Young People’s Laureate for London (2016–2018), a role in which he worked to promote youth voices and poetry across the capital. His writing explores Black British masculinity, systemic inequality, and the emotional interiority of working-class youth, challenging reductive narratives about Black boys and modern urban life, capturing fragile moments of adolescence amid the pressures of race, class, surveillance, and trauma.

Historical context

‘Thirteen’ responds to the stark realities of Black youth in contemporary Britain, particularly their fraught relationship with the police. The poem reflects the long-standing issue of racial profiling and institutional racism targeting Black boys who are disproportionately victims of police brutality in the UK and abroad. The work also echoes the tragic precarity experienced by boys growing up in over-surveilled communities whose adolescence is often denied or criminalised.

Literary context

This poem belongs to a growing tradition of contemporary British poetry that centres marginalised voices and urban narratives, exploring themes like systemic violence and self-worth in the service of social commentary

Key ideas

• Racial profiling and institutional violence
• The loss of childhood innocence
• The betrayal of ideals
• Dehumanisation and erasure
• Disillusionment
• Reality vs. perception of identity