'You go through these things, fighting these ghosts’
Harry Belafonte

I want to tell you that Harry Belafonte
has ‘passed away’. You loved the way 
he wove his politics and his artistry.
Around the kitchen, you used to sing
Daylight come and we wanna go home.
But I imagine you know already, Mum.
That you heard the news way before me.

Belafonte, who was pals with Poitier,
Who said, when Brando died, Marlon
took with him a chink of history.
Harry, who stood with the Native Americans,
who fought Hollywood’s portrayal of black men,
the butler, servant, the Yes Massa man.
Who loved Robeson when he said,
I was an activist who became an artist,
who fought the ghosts of racism past.

I like to imagine you meeting,
my form of secular prayer.
People who fought to make our world better,
having a jam, winging it.
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night
alive as he could be.
Together — you, Dad, Audre, Harry,
Paul, Sidney, Nina, Rosa, Bessie.
All of you raising a glass.

From May Day (Picador, 2024). Jackie Kay lives in Manchester with her wife and was Scotland’s Makar (Poet Laureate) from 2016-21.