Jackie Kay's grandmother

 My Grandmother

My grandmother is like a Scottish pine,
tall, straight-backed, proud and plentiful,
a fine head of hair, greying now
tied up in a loose bun.
Her face is ploughed land.
Her eyes shine rough as amethysts.
She wears a plaid shawl
of our clan with the zeal of an Amazon.
She is one of those women
burnt in her croft rather than moved off the land.
She comes from them, her snake’s skin.
She speaks Gaelic mostly, English only
when she has to, then it’s blasphemy.


My grandmother sits by the fire and swears
There’ll be no darkie baby in this house

My grandmother is a Scottish pine,
tall, straight-backed proud and plentiful,
her hair tied with pins in a ball of steel wool.
Her face is tight as ice
and her eyes are amethysts.

Copyright © Jackie Kay,
Bloodaxe Books, www.bloodaxebooks.com

Here is an introductory article, which leads you onto a text about her use of metaphors and similes. 

A good poem to go with "My Grandmother" is "My Grandmother's House."

A lovely interview with Jackie Kay.

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