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The Keelie Hawk

Poems in Scots

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The Keelie Hawk

Written by: Kathleen Jamie
Narrated by: Kathleen Jamie
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About this listen

Read by the author, Kathleen Jamie.

A Scotsman Poetry Book of the Year

'Jamie’s poetry offers a new way of seeing the world and a new form of intelligence about ourselves and other species' – Kit Fan, Guardian

The Keelie Hawk is a landmark poetry collection from Kathleen Jamie, the former Makar (National Poet) of Scotland. For the first time, Kathleen Jamie has brought her astonishing lyric talent to the language of her homeland, with outstanding results. The Keelie Hawk is a deeply resonant collection written in Scots, with each poem accompanied by a translation into English.

Its publication is a significant event in Scottish literature, not only a reclaiming by one of our finest poets of the mouth-music of literary Scots, but a furthering of that language: ‘by making poems, a language develops’, Jamie observes in a fascinating afterword.

 Poetry World Literature Scotland Highlander

What the critics say

Jamie’s poetry offers a new way of seeing the world and a new form of intelligence about ourselves and other species . . . This generous, inquisitive book helps us re-engage with the world by unlearning our familiar sightlines. (Kit Fan, The Guardian)
[Kathleen Jamie] has perfect pitch, a natural sense of cadence and verbal melody that helps to give her work the feel of organic inevitability (Michael Longley)
An engaging and energetic collection that follows the cycle of a year, cycles within cycles, the migrations of birds and people. The many voices of Scotland’s natural and social worlds combine to create an outstanding aural map of our times (Jackie Kay on The Bonniest Companie)
Both poem and translation are so engaging and vital – whatever language Kathleen works in, she conjures it to life . . . It’s an antidote to the dominance of Standard English, and broadens our scope for self-expression. (John Glenday, author of The Golden Mean)
Jamie illuminates the mysterious force of poetry in our lives as an unending shadow-play of art and nature, self and soul.
The poems reflect a rare intimacy with nature, recalling a time when everything in the natural world was seen as metaphor. The intimacy and the curiosity allows questions to open up poems to the reader . . . some of the short lyrics here are perfect (Tom Pow, poet and Scottish Book Award-winning author of Dear Alice)
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