Jane Beal

Song of the Selkie Jane Beal

Enter the wondrous world of the Selkie.
According to Celtic legend, a selkie is a seal underwater and a woman on land. Sometimes she emerges from the ocean, shedding her white selkie-coat to dance on the sand in moonlight. In the liminal space of the shore, she is vulnerable to capture by a man, and she may become a man's wife and the mother of children. In Song of the Selkie, the Selkie voices her experience of being caught between two worlds: one of the sea, of freedom, and the other of marriage and motherhood. Other voices join in: a Lighthouse-Keeper, the spirit of Ruth, and even a baby. Through these poems, readers can enjoy the extraordinary magic of selkie stories, and--through their retelling--gain insight into experiences of love and loss, the fears and choices experienced by women, and of finding hope in the future.