Published May 24, 2021 at 3:22 PM CDT Listen • 17:44 Caleb "The Negro Artist" Rainey has been a fixture on the Midwestern spoken word scene for several years, and has performed both regionally and internationally. Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey’s poetry collection “Look, Black Boy” begins with this dedication: “To everyone who showed me that I was meant to be more than dead.” The book is Rainey’s first published work, and it’s filled with searing, enlightening poems that capture the complexity of growing up Black in the Midwest. The poems alternate between addressing the white audience that surrounded Rainey’s upbringing in Columbia, Missouri and the Black boys who reflect his own experience.