"Gap Year" by Jackie Kay
"Gap Year" by Jackie Kay. Here is the WONDERFUL site offered by BBC Bitesize , which talks you through the various stages of the poem. As the BBC site explains: This poem describes Jackie Kay’s feelings for her son Matthew as he is travelling on his gap year. She remains at home wondering what he is doing, reminiscing about his childhood and reflecting on how quickly he has grown up. Here is an annotated version of the poem, Gap Year . 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, willing you to arrive, hardly able to believe I would ever have a real baby to put in the basket. I’d feel the mound of my tight tub of a stomach, and you moving there, foot against my heart, elbow in my ribcage, turning, burping, awake, asleep. One time I imagined I felt you laugh. I’d play you Handel’s Water Music or Emma Kirkby singing Pergolesi . I’d talk to you, my close stranger , call you Tumshie , ask wh...