That Little Jackdaw
Author: Mel Brown
Published: 2019
Imprint: Pylon Series
Format: 140 mm x 140mm
Features: edition of 100,
each cover is unique with
a touch of gold foil on
recycled card.
Description: That Little Jackdaw is Mel Brown’s interpretation of ‘The Jackdaw of Rheims’, the tale of a jackdaw who attends a grand banquet, steals the Cardinal’s precious ring, is cursed for his sins and eventually absolved of his crimes and sainted. When we first meet the Jackdaw, he is mischievous, irreverent and very much alive. However, he becomes a broken bird – firstly as a result of the Cardinal’s violent and excessive curse and secondly when the lifting of that curse leaves him pious and devout with his most natural characteristics buried deep.
“Reimagining the poem during a long period of recuperation, the Jackdaw’s fate became my own: a broken bird (my pre-op/post-op self) has a curse lifted (cancer removed and a scar healed) - my love letter to the NHS.”