Posts by sfletcher

Professor Jackie Kay CBE, University Chancellor and Scots Makar, is sharing a series of poems with colleagues, students and members of the public, reflecting on the current period of uncertainty that we are in.

This week, Jackie has shared her poem ‘The World Is A Village’, which analyses the paradox of never being more connected but also never being less connected to each other.
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‘The World Is A Village’ 

It’s the whole world in our hands, my mum says, 

half her face on an iPad in her Care Home. 

Not just Scotland. It goes wherever it roams. 

You’re just there; you’ve never been more far away. 

It’s China, Korea, Syria, Spain, every way 

You turn – Nigeria, Australia, the USA. We’re not alone. 

Families living grief, the bright light shone 

On us human beings. We’ll look back one day 

And the light will be grey and unforgiving. 

It’s one thing to say we’re all in the same boat; 

But what if we’re not in the same boat. 

We carry on doing what we’re doing for each other, 

Our hearts open like doors: distance-giving, fonder. 

For our brothers and sisters, our sisters and brothers 

Copyright Jackie Kay. Reprinted with kind permission from the author.

Catch up on previous weekly poems here.

Don’t miss Jackie’s new weekly series of online literary and musical performances. ‘Makar to Makar’ will showcase a line-up of established talent and emerging voices from Scotland and around the world. Read more about ‘Makar to Makar’ here.

Follow Jackie on Twitter @JackieKayPoet to hear a new poem every Sunday.

Professor Jackie Kay CBE, University Chancellor and Scots Makar, is sharing a series of poems with colleagues, students and members of the public, reflecting on the current period of uncertainty that we are in.

This week, we are sharing Jackie’s poem ‘Fiere’, which celebrates friendship across the entire course of a lifetime.
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‘Fiere’

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.

You’d mind o’ anither day, mibbe,

we ran doon the hill in the snow,

sliding and singing oor way tae the foot,

lassies laughing thegither – how braw,

the years slipping awa; oot in the weather.

And noo we’re suddenly auld, fiere,

oor friendship’s ne’er been weary.

We’ve aye seen the warld differently.

Whaur would I hae been weyoot my jo,

my fiere, my fiercy, my dearie O?

Oor hair it micht be silver noo,

oor walk a wee bit doddery,

but we’ve had a whirl and a blast, girl,

thru the cauld blast winter, thru spring, summer.

O’er a lifetime, my fiere, my bonnie lassie,

I’d defend you – you, me; blithe and blatter,

here we gang doon the hill, nae matter,

past the bracken, bonny braes, barley,

oot by the roaring sea, still havin a blether.

We who loved sincerely; we who loved sae fiercely,

the snow ne’er looked sae barrie,

nor the winter trees sae pretty.

C’mon, c’mon my dearie – tak my hand, my fiere!

Copyright Jackie Kay. Reprinted with kind permission from the author.​​​​​​​

Don’t miss Jackie’s new weekly series of online literary and musical performances. ‘Makar to Makar’ will showcase a line-up of established talent and emerging voices from Scotland and around the world. Read more about ‘Makar to Makar’ here.

Follow Jackie on Twitter @JackieKayPoet to hear a new poem every Sunday.

Professor Jackie Kay CBE, University Chancellor and Scots Makar, is sharing a series of poems with colleagues, students and members of the public, reflecting on the current period of uncertainty that we are in.

This week, Jackie shares her poem ‘A Lang Promise’, which is a love poem, originally published in BANTAM (2017). Jackie describes this poem as being about ‘loving somebody under any circumstances’. 

‘A Lang Promise’

Whether the weather be dreich or fair, my luve,

if guid times greet us, or we hae tae face the worst,

ahint and afore whit will happen tae us:

blind in the present, eyes open to the furore,

unkempt or perjink, suddenly puir or poorly,

peely-wally or in fine fettle, beld or frosty,

calm as a ghoul or in a feery-farry,

in dork December or in springy spring weather,

doon by the Barrows, on the Champs-Elysees,

at midnicht, first licht, whether the mune

be roond or crescent, and yer o’ soond mind

or absent, I’ll tak your trusty haun

and lead you over the haw – hame, ma darlin.

I’ll carry ma lantern, and daur defend ye agin ony foe;

and whilst there is breath in me, I’ll blaw it intae ye.

Fir ye are ma true luve, the bonnie face I see;

nichts I fall intae slumber, it’s ye swimming up

in all yer guidness and blitheness, yer passion.

You’ll be mine, noo, an’ till the end o’ time,

ma bonnie lassie, I’ll tak the full guid o’ ye’ 

and gie it back, and gie it back tae ye:

a furst kiss, a lang promise, time’s gowden ring.

Published in BANTAM, reprinted with kind permission of Picador Publishers.

Don’t miss Jackie’s new weekly series of online literary and musical performances. ‘Makar to Makar’ will showcase a line-up of established talent and emerging voices from Scotland and around the world. Read more about ‘Makar to Makar’ here.

Follow Jackie on Twitter @JackieKayPoet to hear a new poem every Sunday.

During COVID-19, Professor Jackie Kay CBE, University Chancellor and Scots Makar, is sharing a series of poems with colleagues, students and members of the public, reflecting on the current period of uncertainty that we are in.

This week, Jackie shares her poem ‘Jemini Peaches’. This poem was written after Jackie read a moving testimony sent to her by Southall Black Sisters, about a woman who had suffered the devastating consequences of domestic violence for years.

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‘Jemini Peaches’

 Somewhere you live, Jemini Peaches

As far as my eye can see,

Out by the sand dunes furthest reaches

At the side of a turquoise sea

And the wind still blows the barley.

You will forever be my Jemini Peaches,

If I will still be me,

A girl loved so hard she reaches

Another life entirely

And the wind still blows the barley.

You were only eight months, Jemini Peaches

Inside my young-old body,

When your father’s boots breached me

And I prayed for the soul of my baby

As the wind still blew the barley

Somewhere by that lost shore, Jemini Peaches

With the sun, high in the sky

You’ll be raising your arms as you reach for me

And I’ll be waving you goodbye

Like the wind waves over the barley

And all your friends, Jemini Peaches

Will be wherever you are,

And I’ll be there combing the beaches

Not locked up no more, not far,

And the wind will search the barley

I know for sure, my Jemini Peaches,

As I’m here with a lock of your  hair

You’re there, dressed in purple on Grenadian beaches,

And the wind combing your dark black hair,

blowing the barley there.

Copyright Jackie Kay. Reprinted with kind permission from the author. 

Don’t miss Jackie’s new weekly series of online literary and musical performances. ‘Makar to Makar’ will showcase a line-up of established talent and emerging voices from Scotland and around the world. Read more about ‘Makar to Makar’ here.

Follow Jackie on Twitter @JackieKayPoet to hear a new poem every Sunday.

Professor Jackie Kay CBE, University Chancellor and Scots Makar, is sharing a series of poems with colleagues, students and members of the public, reflecting on the current period of uncertainty that we are in.

This week, Jackie has shared the poem ‘Where’s My Keys?’, which is written in the voice of a woman in a care home who has dementia.

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‘Where Are My Keys?’

There’s a man coming towards me with a mask on his face.

He’s got a green suit on. I don’t know what he wants.

My nose has been blocked for days. I need out of this place.

I need to get back home. Where are my keys?

There’s a man coming towards me with a mask on his face.

Do you know my address? I live near the Cross.

I’ve been here for days and days and days.

I’ve got things to do. I need to find things a place.

There’s a man coming towards me with a mask on his face.

I can’t hear a single thing he says.

I haven’t seen my grandchildren for an age.

They would come sometimes and kiss my old cheeks.

There’s a man coming towards with a mask on his face.

I can’t hear a single thing he says.

He wears gloves. He feeds me things I can’t taste.

Where’s my husband? He was in the human race.

There’s a man coming towards me with a mask on his face.

I saw a face at the window, wanting in – waves, waves.

Do you know how to get out of this place?

I want home. Where are my keys? Where are my keys?

There’s a man coming towards me with a mask on his face.

Copyright Jackie Kay. Reprinted with kind permission from the author.

Don’t miss Jackie’s new weekly series of online literary and musical performances which launched on Thursday 14 May at 7.00pm. ‘Makar to Makar’ will showcase a line-up of established talent and emerging voices from Scotland and around the world. Read more about ‘Makar to Makar’ here.

Follow Jackie on Twitter @JackieKayPoet to hear a new poem every Sunday.

‘The world was ending as it had been doing for millennia.…’

Watch online here at Art Review’s website or at Modern Form Film Platform

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For a limited time only, the first five episodes of Shezad Dawood’s Leviathan Cycle will be streaming online, at Art Review’s Art Lovers Movie Club and Modern Form’s Film Platform. 

The ambitious ten-part project explores some of the most urgent issues of our times: weaving together possible interconnections between marine welfare, migration, borders, the environment, and mental health.

The first instalment, Leviathan Cycle, Episode1: Ben (2017), is available to view online from 21st – 28th May. Following episodes will be released every Thursday alongside virtual conversations between the artist and selected scientists, curators, and critics.

Leviathan Cycle, Episode1: Ben was co-commissioned by the University of Salford Art Collection with Outset Contemporary Art Fund and Leviathan-Human & Marine Ecology, with support from The Contemporary Art Society. Courtesy: the artist and UBIK Productions.

The screenings are presented by ArtReview, Modern Forms, David Roberts Art Foundation and The Ryder. Follow @leviathancycle on Instagram and Twitter for further updates.

May 2020

Professor Jackie Kay CBE, University Chancellor and Scots Makar, is sharing a series of poems with colleagues, students and members of the public, reflecting on the current period of uncertainty that we are in.

Jackie’s sixth poem ‘What Key Is It Robbie?’ is about finding comfort in music during these unprecedented times.

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‘What Key Is It Robbie?’

The bagpipers of Bishopbriggs play Scotland the Brave
Pipers from Japan, Spain, Canada, the US,
Lung to lung, deep breaths. This should be saved.

We clap the carers, the nurses, the NHS.
The soprano’s voice on the Italian balcony
Rises to Bocelli’s Time to say Goodbye

I weep at the parody of Bohemian Rhapsody!
Dance to Kidjo’s new No Pata Pata, aye.
Greet at my mum’s I’m no awa tae bide awa!

Tears-clefs! A world-music stay-at-home fest, new songs
Livestreamed; the shy, Chorlton-based Badly Drawn Boy;
What key is it Robbie Ringo asks on the phone?

The Weight of the world’s musicians on my heart strings.
What Crazy Rhythm with Julian and the BBC Philharmonic!
What a beauty – Celeste’s Lean on Me, The Big Night In

Or Star One and my son playing Bill Withers again
After Mr Vegas’s I’m blessed. A toast! Music’s the tonic.

Copyright Jackie Kay. Reprinted with kind permission from the author

Don’t miss Jackie’s new weekly series of online literary and musical performances which launches on Thursday 14 May at 7.00pm. ‘Makar to Makar’ will showcase a line-up of established talent and emerging voices from Scotland and around the world. Read more about ‘Makar to Makar’ here.

Follow Jackie on Twitter @JackieKayPoet to hear a new poem every Sunday.

Professor Jackie Kay CBE, University Chancellor and Scots Makar, is sharing a series of poems with colleagues, students and members of the public, reflecting on the current period of uncertainty that we are in.

This week, Jackie has shared the poem ‘Mask’, to mark the lives of those we have lost during this pandemic.

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‘Mask’

SAGE, SARS, PPE
NHS, BAME
Abbreviations we understand;
But not lives shortened.
By too few goggles, gloves, gowns,
Johnson doing a ring around,
Carers compelled to wear bin bags.
Doctors decked out in out of date masks.Time lags.

But Death has no abbreviation. No hiding place.
Wash your hands! Don’t touch your face!
Don’t listen. Close your ears. Don’t test, test, test.
We will come to know your names-
Our carers, nurses, doctors, our NHS.
And we will mask our heads in shame.

Copyright Jackie Kay. Reprinted with kind permission from the author.

Follow Jackie on Twitter @JackieKayPoet to hear a new poem every Sunday.

May 2020

Professor Jackie Kay CBE, University Chancellor and Scots Makar, is sharing a series of poems with colleagues, students and members of the public, reflecting on the current period of uncertainty that we are in.

This week, Jackie has shared the poem ‘Ballachulish’, remembering a happy trip with her dad to the village of Ballachulish in Scotland. Now, Jackie reflects on the community coming together to help each other in these unprecedented times. 

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‘Ballachulish’

Wan time dad drove us to Ballachulish,
a guy dreich day, blawing up a hoolie.
We wur aff tae watch the Heiland Games.
Where’d we stay? Were we near Glenahulish?

Aw the way there in the green Morris Minor,
Dad sang Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina.
Why? I dinny ken. An’ told us aboot John o’ the Glen
Afore we watched them thraw the hammer in the driving rain.

Aye Kidnapped is based on the Appin murder.
This bridge is wan magnificent structure.
It wisnae here when I wis a wean.
No far fray here wis the Glencoe massacre.

Last night Ballachulish would not be laid low.
Every single house had a sign in the window.
Awbody uniting tae help the fowk by Loch Leven.
A green tick or a red cross to let folk know.

Amazing tae see Ballachulish on the TV screen.
How they stapped the foolish and the numpties,
Wey thur hame-made road blocks; wan a dead deer!
How they put up posters: Stay away fray here!

And got the fisheries tae donate tae the pharmacy,
Plastic gloves, an haun sanitisers tae the surgery,
(Which used to be the old terminus at Laroch.)
Aye, Aye, Aye, I hear my dear old dad say, Och,

From the peaty land of the newly dead,
It’s the community spirit that summons ye;
Pole vaulting in the slate quarry on Easter Sunday.
Clever teuchtars will ne’er surpreeze me!

Copyright Jackie Kay. Reprinted with kind permission from the author.

Follow Jackie on Twitter @JackieKayPoet to hear a new poem every Sunday.