Song of the Selkie

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.