This poem describes the persona's memories of her grandmother through a photograph. In the photo, the grandmother appears tall, well-dressed, and smiling despite facing her impending death. As the grandmother ages, she becomes frail and forgetful. After her death, the grandmother lives on through the photograph, where her smile remains alive and breathing. The poem explores the contrast between remembering a loved one through a photo versus their reality of aging and death.

2. • Jackie Kay was born in
Edinburgh in 1961 to a Scottish
mother and a Nigerian father.
• She was adopted by a white
couple at birth and raised in
Glasgow.
• she studied English ay the
University of Stirling, Scotland
• her first book of poetry 'The
Adoption Papers' was published
in 1991 and won the Saltire
Society Scottish First Book
Award.
• Currently a professor of
Creative Writing at Newscastle
University, England.

4. doctor
cookie baker
cheer leader
hug giver

7. The Living Photograph
by Jackie Kay
My small grandmother is tall there,
straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt,
pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun,
a kind, old smile round her eyes.
Her big hand holds mine,
white hand in black hand.
Her sharp blue eyes look her death in the eye.

8. It was true after all; that look.
My tall grandmother became small.
Her back round and hunched.
Her soup forgot to boil.
She went to the awful place grandmothers go.
Somewhere unknown, unthinkable.
But there she is still,
in the photo with me at three,
the crinkled smile is still living, breathing.

9. My small grandmother is tall there,
straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt,
pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun,
a kind, old smile round her eyes.
STANZA 1 LINE 1-4
broderie anglaise shirt
pleated skirt flat shoes grey bun

10. My small grandmother is tall there,
straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt,
pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun,
a kind, old smile round her eyes.
STANZA 1 LINE 1-4
'tall' and 'straight-back'
suggest that she was standing
with good posture. She was
poised and composed.
The way she dressed
signifies that she was a
woman of an upper
or middle class.
She was a kind and loving
woman and she loved the
persona unconditionally.

11. Her big hand holds mine,
white hand in black hand.
Her sharp blue eyes look her death in the eye.
STANZA 1 LINE 5-7

12. Her big hand holds mine,
white hand in black hand.
Her sharp blue eyes look her death in the eye.
STANZA 1 LINE 5-7
The persona's grandmother
held her hand.
The contrast of their skin
colours could clearly be
seen.
* Jackie Kay is a Nigerian
adopted by a Scottish
family. The persona could
be Jackie Kay herself.
Her grandmother's blue eyes were
sharp and she looks well however
her death was near. Her sharp
eyes suggest that she was
brave and accepted the fact
that she was going to die.
Note that her grandmother is dead and yet
the persona refers to her in present tense.
This proves that she is still alive in the
persona's heart and she wants to remember
her grandmother exactly like when she was
in the picture.

13. It was true after all; that look.
My tall grandmother became small.
Her back round and hunched.
Her soup forgot to boil.
She went to the awful place grandmothers go.
Somewhere unknown, unthinkable.
STANZA 2

14. It was true after all; that look.
My tall grandmother became small.
Her back round and hunched.
Her soup forgot to boil.
She went to the awful place grandmothers go.
Somewhere unknown, unthinkable.
STANZA 2
The persona was very sure that her grandmother
was going to die soon by looking at her condition. she became
thinner and
fragile
She grew older
and became
hunched
She suffered senile dementia
and became forgetful.
Her grandmother passed away and
she went to a place that no one
knows
Why do you think this stanza was written in PAST TENSE?
She was describing her actual state of dying and her
grandmother is now dead.

15. But there she is still,
in the photo with me at three,
the crinkled smile is still living, breathing.
STANZA 3

16. But there she is still,
in the photo with me at three,
the crinkled smile is still living, breathing.
STANZA 3
However in the photograph, her
grandmother will always be alive
The memory of her still lives on..
The photograph was taken
with her grandmother
when she was three years
old.
Her grandmother's smile is still so alive and real.
The persona does not want to remember her grandmother as old and
senile but she wants to remember her as loving, poised and brave.
Why do you think this stanza was written in PRESENT TENSE?
It is because her grandmother will always be alive in her heart
and the good memories will live on