“Darling” by Scottish poet Jackie Kay. Episode 24/30 READING POETRY #NaPodPoMo

Paul O’Mahony introduces Jackie Kay’s  “Darling”.  Jackie was born in Edinburgh in 1961 - her mother Scottish, her father Nigerian. You hear Jackie Kay reading her poem.  You also hear Paul having a go at reading it #NaPodPoMo—————-DARLINGYou might forget the exact sound of her voice or how her face looked when sleeping. You might forget the sound of her quiet weeping curled into the shape of a half moon, when smaller than her self, she seemed already to be leaving before she left, when the blossom was on the trees and the sun was out, and all seemed good in the world. I held her hand and sang a song from when I was a girl - Heel y'ho boys, let her go boys - and when I stopped singing she had slipped away, already a slip of a girl again, skipping off, her heart light, her face almost smiling. And what I didn't know or couldn't say then was that she hadn't really gone. The dead don't go till you do, loved ones. The dead are still here holding our hands. ____________________________________________________Listen to the full series at https://napodpomo.org/napodpomo-2025-mega-feed/ Follow me on Spotify, Audioboom, and Apple Podcasts