The Adoption Papers

This book contains The Adoption Papers, followed by Severe Gale 8.

Jackie Kay is a black Scottish poet who was adopted by a white couple, and The Adoption Papers includes poems told from the perspectives of both her mothers, as well as from her own perspective as a child and young woman. It is a very moving collection and I enjoyed it a lot.

Well she says, you have an interesting home
She sees my eyebrows rise.
It's different, she qualified.

Hell and I've spent all morning
trying to look ordinary
- a lovely home for the baby.

The second half of the book contains poems about storms; meteorological, metaphysical and political. I enjoyed it almost as much as the first half.

The wind was revolutionary;
ducks and gulls and Canadian goose
levitated to show more catch flying pieces of bread.
Small children flew higher than hawks,
their fat little bodies buffeted by Galeforce 8
moving along at 95 mph.

Adults stood rooted
like the trees used to be,
their arms waving in the wind. show less

This was an interesting collection, but I'm not sure how many of the poems would hold up singly outside of the collection for support. Still the use of language and dialect was interesting throughout. Worth a look, particularly as a singular narrative-shaping collection.

I enjoyed this book. My teenage son made me laugh, though. He was derisive. Jackie Kay! They always get Jackie Kay to come and speak. (Well, of course he grew up in Lewisham.)