"Jackie Kay's first collection as Scottish Makar is a book about the fighting spirit - one, the poet argues, that we need now more than ever. Bantam brings three generations into sharp focus - Kay's own, her father's, and his own father's - to show us how the body holds its own story. Kay shows how old injuries can emerge years later; how we bear and absorb the loss of friends; how we celebrate and welcome new life; and how we how we embody our times, whether we want to or not.
Bantam crosses borders, from Rannoch Moor to the Somme, from Brexit to Bronte country. Who are we? Who might we want to be? These are poems that sing of what connects us, and lament what divides us; poems that send daylight into the dark that threatens to overwhelm us - and could not be more necessary to the times in which we live."
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[Between the lines of men / the lines of women come / in case you think me strange / your postscript never came (LINES FOR KILMARNOCK]***
(Picador, 19 October 2017, ebook, 80 pages, borrowed from my library)
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Jackie Kay is one of my favourite poets. I loved Bantam.
The poems in this collection are intense, emotional, filled with passion and heart. I loved the language used, the perfect words and imagery and the sense of rhythm found in many of the poems. Kay knows her stuff.
The opening poem, Lines for Kilmarnock is quite stunning. The rest of the poems in the collection are almost as good. My favourite poems are Line for Kilmarnock, Bantam, Nell Ten Minutes After She Was Born, The Ardtornish Quartet and Care Leaver.
