Fiction Adaptation: Initial Ideas for "Being British"

Through my research into the poem "Being British" I have come to the conclusion that this is a very personal poem to the poet Deanna Rodgers.  Due to this, I want to ensure that this personal feeling comes across in my adaptation.  I plan on doing this through creating a character that will lead us through the poem like an autobiography story of her life.  The reason the character will be female is because of certain verses referring to female sentiments such as: "mother fleeing from war torn land" and "baby in belly".  Not only that but the author herself is female, and as it is a personal poem, it will make sense to have a female protagonist for the adaptation. 

The beginning of the adaptation will start before the poem begins.  Our protagonist character will be a teacher in a school and they will be learning about something that makes one of the children ask: "Where do you come from Miss?" thus sparking the start of the poem 

"I always get asked,

'Where do you come from?'

My repeated reply is 

London"

I was thinking that the teacher could actually speak this first verse as it would emphasise the emotion of the poem as it is a very personal poem. 

The camera could track in from the back of the class into a close up of the teacher as the next scene starts.  The idea behind this is to create the illusion of a memory to help the audience enter the teacher's psychological space to transition to the next scene.

The next scene will then go back in time to when she was around 30 and carrying a baby in her arms. She is walking through a narrow alleyway and knocking on people's doors. Everyone is turning her away. 

"The town that sheltered a mother fleeing from war torn land 

baby in belly given chance to be a man

a city of prosperity..."

I think it will be quite challenging to find a war-time location and the right costumes, therefore I may need to revise this scene and think about the logistics. I may not need to think literally about the poem, I can find symbolic meanings and make them more creative to convey what the poem is describing. 

I have an idea of creating shadows to illuminate the room of two people dancing. This will show the protagonist's parents story of why she was born which is explained in the poem:

"Whether fact or fiction

so I tell them

I'm a product of miscegenation

that my parents, parents are from Jamaica and Scotland

Raised in England,

they found love and made life in London

to born and breed a British Girl."

The next section talks a lot about food, therefore it would make sense to shoot in a cafe where she is eating a breakfast and drinking a cup of tea. Again this is a very literal way of showing the poem so I am going to also revise this scene and make it a bit more creative.  

These are my initial ideas so far and I will continue to develop them to make sure that they are as creative as possible.