Jackie Kay Poems

How they strut about, people in love,
How tall they grow, pleased with themselves,
Their hair, glossy, their skin shining.
They don't remember who they have been.
...

I did not promise
to stay with you till death do us part, or
anything like that,
...

When I got home
I went out into the garden
Liking it when the frost bit
...

I always wanted to give birth
Do that incredible natural thing
That women do-I nearly broke down
...

If ye went tae the tapmost hill, Fiere
Whaur we used tae clamb as girls,
Ye'd see the snow the day, Fiere,
Settling on the hills.
...

No one makes soup like my Grandpa's,
with its diced carrots the perfect size
and its diced potatoes the perfect size
and its wee soft bits -
...

How strange the way old lovers move into the present,
tense, and catch you off guard; you tell me
when you were here last you'd taken the steam train to a place
whose name you've forgotten, and found a tapas bar.
...

1
She is on the second floor of a tenement.
From her front room window you see the cemetery.
...

My mum is on a high bed next to sad chrysanthemums.
‘Don't bring flowers, they only wilt and die.'
I am scared my mum is going to die
on the bed next to the sad chrysanthemums.
...

Gap Year
(for Mateo)

I
I remember your Moses basket before you were born.
I'd stare at the fleecy white sheet for days, weeks,
...