‘It hurt. It hurt like hell. But it didn’t matter, if no one knew.’ Nella Larsen, Passing There is no answer for a broken heart, she said. Now I can’t forget the way she held her head up high. She was always kind, my Mama, dignified. There’s nothing as potent as regret, I said, out […]
My grandfather, Joseph Kay, Highland Light Infantry – After his capture on the 17th of January, Prisoner of war, Bourlon, Cambrai, and on and on From the Second Battle of the Somme, After the death of friends who did not become Fathers, grandfathers, husbands, old sons, Tram drivers, shipbuilders, miners, Lovers, joiny-inners – never, ever […]
(My father at 87 remembers his father at 17) It wisnae men they sent tae war. It wis boys like the Bantams – wee men named efter sma’ chickens, or later a jeep, a bike, a camera. That needy, fir soldiers, they drapped height Restriction, so small men came to war. As a prisoner, my […]
(for the new war memorial in Kilmarnock) Between the lines of men, The lines of women come: In case you think me strange, Your postscript never came. The lines you repeat before you fall Into line, and the ones you say when you fall Asleep. Dear John, dear, dear, darling – Lines unsaid, lines unformed. […]
If you can picture yourself on the road The one that exists in your mind If you can walk those steps again You’ll be surprised at what you find. The road that was in your head Has already found you walking: When you looked ahead, It was your footsteps waiting. Then you heard the song […]
Jackie Kay is an award-winning Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works Other Lovers (1993), Trumpet (1998) and Bantam (2017). Her work often deals with identity, race, nationality, gender, and sexuality. From 2016 to 2021 Jackie Kay was the Makar, the poet laureate of Scotland and she Served as the Chancellor of the […]