“Pelumi, via his ingenious contortion of language, takes us on a journey between the complexities of selfhood, faith and longing, before landing us at a confluence as he carefully [but with intentionality] steers through the tide of lyrics and metaphors. Ethos is an unputdownable gem — a speculation with mythology and religion and clarity from an inexplicably genius teenage poet!” — Muhammed Sanni Olowonjoyin, Winner of the Dawn Poetry Prize (2023) “We hate poetry that has a palpable design on us”. This is a line from one of John Keat’s most famous letters. What Adesiyan’s poetry does, however, is the reverse— it works its way through us, neatly, in a tone that is both relatable and daring. ETHOS is a reflection of resistance and yet, of yielding, to everything that one’s self has become or is becoming. What Adesiyan has done is to ask those questions we are most scared of asking. This is a chapbook I will come back to, again and again. —Chiwenite Onyekwelu, Author of EXILED