Darling

Humour, gender, sexuality, sensuality, identity, racism, cultural difference: when do any of these things ever come together to equal poetry? When Jackie Kay's part of the equation. Darling brings together into a vibrant new book many favourite poems from her four Bloodaxe collections, "e;The Adoption Papers"e;, "e;Other Lovers"e;, "e;Off Colour"e; and "e;Life Mask"e;, as well as featuring new work, some previously uncollected poems, and some lively poetry for younger readers. Kay's poems draw on her own life and the lives of others to make a tapestry of voice and communal understanding. The title of her acclaimed short story collection, "e;Why Don't You Stop Talking"e;, could be a comment on her own poems, their urgency of voice and their recognition of the urgency in all voice, particularly the need to be heard, to have voice. And what voice -- the voices of the everyday, the voices of jazz, the voices of this many-voiced United Kingdom.