A poem inspired by the story of Sheffield refugee Lem Lem Hussain Abdu is featured in a ‘Digital Poetry Slam’ commissioned for the Off the Shelf literary festival. The project filmed 21 poets in 21 different locations across Sheffield – all venues used by the festival – to celebrate Off the Shelf’s 21st anniversary.
River Wolton wrote the poem “Home” in July 2010 after Lem Lem was detained in Yarl’s Wood and it was used during the campaign that led to Lem Lem being granted discretionary leave to remain this summer. Film maker Nathan Gibson recorded River reading the poem at the Lantern Theatre in Nether Edge.
You can see the performance here and then vote for it – or indeed one of the other 20 poems – by pressing the ‘vote’ tab on the 21poetsforsheffield website.