I listened to the audiobook version of this story, narrated by the Author Dean Atta. I really loved that Dean was able to record this so that I could hear his words in his own voice, especially because this was a work of poetry. I sometimes feel like I don’t know how to read poetry, too much of me wants to just race through it and treat it like a novel, just text getting into my brain to get the story. It feels like poetry has to be eaten differently if that makes any sense.
Black Flamingo tells the story of Michael, a half-Jamaican, half Greek Cypriot boy growing up in London being raised by a single mother. His father is a ghost of a presence in his life, although his father’s family welcomes him into their midst and he has a good relationship with his Uncle B. Michael is a gentle boy and as he grows up we get a perspective of what it means to be a gentle mixed race boy growing up in a world where he is often told that he is not enough, not black enough, not greek enough, not straight enough, not hard enough. Michael’s journey of self discovery is lovely to watch. Another reviewer mentioned that they kept waiting for something bad to happen, and I felt myself doing the same. We’ve been raised (if you’re like me) to expect that there must be compulsory tragedy, violence, and pain in all queer stories. We’re just meant to triumphantly rise above it like super humans (which is such bullshit, but that’s a rant for another time).
I loved the unflagging support and love he has in his mother. She doesn’t waiver in making sure that he understands that he is just as he is meant to be and that’s okay. We see her struggling to provide for her two children with limited funds and distant family.
Listen to this in audiobook if you can, it’s fantastic.