Here she achieves great range, exploring the qualities of love in a variety of relationships rooted in the past and the present. I read trumpet a good while back, which i fully recommend, but it wasnt until last year i really got into more of kays stuff. She was adopted as a baby by a white scottish couple, helen and john kay, and grew up in bishopbriggs, a suburb of glasgow. It doesnt look like anything, thats what is so strange. Late love by jackie kay andlove and friendship by emily bronte. I didnt want to choose a poem that i didnt understand or one that was so long it bored everyone. Jackie kay is a scottish writer of mixed ethnicity. With humour and emotional directness, her poetry explores gender, sexuality, identity, racism and. Its not so much that youve lost your memory, more like youre submerged in it, like youre living in the brightly vivid underwater world of the past. Jackie kay was an adopted child of scottishnigerian descent brought up by scottish parents. The poet jackie kay introduces and reads some of her bestknown poems for children.
Her birth parents met when her father was a student at aberdeen university and her mother was working as a nurse. Her poems move from the familiar the parent, the child, the lover to the extraordinary including a sequence on the blues singer bessie smith. In the following paragraphs i will go in depth and break down the poems to help. Making do is something you can do just fine if there is love in the room. The resource focuses on identifying aspects of kays style and themes by comparing her poems with other poets work, before encouraging pupils to compare the two poems with each other. Six poems by jackie kay teaching notes and discussion questions for national five english lorna smith jackie kay jackie kay was born in edinburgh in 1961 to a scottish mother and a nigerian father. How they strut about, people in love, how tall they grow, pleased with themselves. The subjects of her adoption, the experience of growing up as a black child in a white community and of her loving if unconventional family, have been important ones in her work.
She was born in edinburgh in 1961 and adopted by a family from glasgow, where she grew up. Or his seed for me to love it and i had sisters who looked just like me didnt need carbon copy features blueprints for generations it was my baby a baby a baby i wanted. She is a scots poet who speaks and writes with a scots accent, and she is a black poet who, as a girl growing up in an almost allwhite community, had her all too visible. Late love poem by jackie kay famous poets and poems. Jackie kay was born in edinburgh, scotland and brought up in glasgow.
How they strut about, people in love, how tall they grow, pleased with themselves, their hair, glossy, their skin shining. Jacqueline margaret kay was born on 9 november 1961 in edinburgh to a scottish mother and a nigerian father. She is an awardwinning writer of fiction, poetry and drama but also a black lesbian woman which plays an important role in her writing. Late love is obviously about being in love as well as not being in love. On thick white snow you vow fresh footprints then watch them go with the winds hearty gust. Jackie kay was born in edinburgh in 1961 to a scottish mother and a nigerian father.
An interview with jackie kay childrens poetry archive. I came across jackie kays poem in my country and i. I always wanted to give birth do that incredible natural thing. In the last 20 years or so, jackie kay has moved from marginal voice to national treasure. Born in edinburgh to a scottish mother and nigerian father, she was adopted as a baby by a white couple. Life poems, time poems, place poems, sleep poems, body poems, sleeping poems, weeds poems, babies poems based on keywords. It provides a personal overview of a year of scottish poetry. Darling brings together into a vibrant new book many favorite poems from her four bloodaxe collections, the adoption papers, other lovers, off colour and life mask, as well as featuring new work, some previously uncollected poems, and some lively poetry for younger readers. Remember, the time of year when the future appears like a blank sheet of paper a clean calendar, a new chance.
Lets enjoy the poem baggage written by poet jackie kay on rhymings. Her first collection of poetry, the adoption papers, was published in 1991. Yet throughout her widelyranging career encompassing poetry, plays, childrens writing, short stories, prose and the novel her work has continued to gravitate around key themes of identity, and the importance of poems and stories as affirmations both of individuality and of human. Popular sad love poems the 100 best sad poems about love. They adopted jackie in 1961, having already adopted her brother, maxwell, about two years earlier. I know this is not a good idea, and that being in love, i could be spending my time going over the best that has been happening. Jackie kay was an adopted child of scottishnigerian descent brought up by scottish parents, the subject of the titlesequence of her first collection, the adoption papers bloodaxe books, 1991. The countrys national poet whose widowed mother helen, 89, is in a care home in. The color of the wallpaper in the bedroom you had as a girl. She was adopted as a baby by a white scottish couple, helen and john kay, and grew up in bishopbriggs, a. Jackie kay poetry collection from famous poets and poems. The bbc 4 programme, to be shown next month, uses roberts own words to tell his story from getting his first love letter and going to dances, to his fears before going over. Each of the first 6 programmes profiles a different contemporary. Jackie kay mbe born 9 november 1961 is a scottish poet and novelist.
Jackie kay jackie kay, mbe, frse born 9 november 1961 is a scottish poet and novelist. Jackie kays position in english poetry is perhaps unique, and this is so first of all for external reasons that some of her most forceful poems turn into compelling motifs. Kays strength as a poet has always been her clear, plain style, and its fearless spoken poignancy. Id watched and listened but i still fell for her, how she always, always. Jackie kay was born to a scottish mother and nigerian father in edinburgh on 9 november 1961, and was adopted as a baby by helen and john kay, who had already adopted a boy, maxwell. Professor jackie kay cbe, university chancellor and scots makar has written a series of poems reflecting on the current period of uncertainty that we find ourselves in. She is the third modern makar, the scottish poet laureate. One of the characters in my novel is a poet and i was kind of still am figuring out what kind poetry this character. John worked full time for the communist party of great britain, and helen was the scottish secretary of the campaign. Scotlands makar jackie kay hopes poetry can help provide solace and hope in these dark, uncertain times.
I feel that kay falls under my category of characters favorites, not just because i love her poems myself, like other lovers, keeping orchids and the year of the letter. Best scottish poems is an online publication, consisting of 20 poems chosen by a different editor each year, with comments by the editor and poets. Jackie kay poems and poetry famous poets and poems. The main theme of jackie kays poem is exactly this, the contract between these two types of people and how this reflects upon them. Interview jackie kays poems and stories have explored her complicated inheritance. When i read a poem by jackie kay, any poem, i feel as though she is speaking directly to me. The scottish poetry library is a registered charity no.
This resource will help teachers explore jackie kays wonderful poems divorce and gap year with senior pupils. During this unprecedented time, the arts may help to bring us some comfort and offer a welcome distraction from the news. Exploring the poems of jackie kay learning resources. Ring in the love of truth and right, ring in the common love of good. Jackie kay was born in edinburgh, scotland, in 1961, to a scottish mother and a nigerian father. Since the end of the fall semester, ive been reading more and more poems by jackie kay. She tells helen brown why her search for her nigerian father took her back to glasgow. I have kept the layout exactly like the exam paper to help students become familiar with it. University chancellor professor jackie kay cbe, shares. I love poetry but i didnt know which one to choose and some of my favorites are very long. In some poems, we dont know exactly who is speaking and that can be part of the fun. How they strut about people in lovehow tall they grow pleased with themselvestheir hair glossy their skin shining page.