You might forget the exact sound of her voiceor how her face looked when sleeping.You might forget the sound of her quiet weepingcurled into the shape of a half moon,when smaller than her self, she seemed already to be leavingbefore she left, when the blossom was on the treesand the sun was out, and all […]
Crivens! This is jist typical.
When it comes tae talking aboot me,
well, A’ jist clam up. Canny think whit
tae say.
Landscape and I get on together well.Though I’m the talkative one, still he can tellHis symptoms of being to me, the way a shellMurmurs of oceans.Loch Rannoch lapses dimpling in the sun.Its hieroglyphs of light fade one by oneBut re-create themselves, their message done,For ever and ever.That sprinkling lark jerked upward in the blueWill daze […]
She sits all day by the fire.How long is it since she opened the doorand stepped outside, confusingthe scuffling hens and the colliedreaming of sheep?Her walking days are over. She has come through centuriesof Gaelic labour and lovesand rainy funerals. Her peopleare assembled in her bones.She’s their summation. Before her timehas almost no meaning. When […]
On Lachie’s croft the cock standsunder the wheelbarrow. What’s wrong? – He’s bedraggled.Where are his military elegance, his gauleiter manners, his insufferable conceit?I’ll call him rooster, it seems more fitting.I, too, feel bedraggled and haphazard; somethinghas filched my compass, I’m breathing black air.I look at that rooster, I look at me.His hens scratch the ground, […]
A suspicion, a doubt, a jealousygrew in my mind,which turned the hairs on my head to filthy snakes,as though my thoughtshissed and spat on my scalp.My bride’s breath soured, stankin the grey bags of my lungs.I’m foul mouthed now, foul tongued,yellow fanged.There are bullet tears in my eyes.Are you terrified?Be terrified.It’s you I love,perfect man, […]
I’m ten years away from the corner you laugh onwith your pals, Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff.The three of you bend from the waist, holdingeach other, or your knees, and shriek at the pavement.Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn. I’m not here yet. The thought of me doesn’t occurin the ballroom with the […]
A huddle on the greasy street – cars stop, nose past, withdraw – dull glint on soles of tackety boots, frayed rough blue trousers, nondescript coat stretching back, head supported in strangers’ arms, a crowd collecting – ‘Whit’s wrang?’ ‘Can ye see’m?’ ‘An auld fella, he’s had it.’ On one side, a young mother in […]
Ye Hielands and ye Lowlands,O, whaur hae ye been?They hae slain the Earl o’ Moray,And laid him on the green.He was a braw gallant,And he rade at the ring,And the bonny Earl o’ Moray,He might hae been a king.O lang will his ladyLok frae the Castle DouneEre she see the Earl o’ MorayCome soundin’ through […]
The little girl stands on a knife-covered ledge, Dancing till blood starts to drip from its edge.She’s been licking her wounds since the first time she bled, Getting judged for each thought she commits in her head. She’s been starving herself since she started to eat, Connecting the dots of her heart’s every beat.She’s been […]
Tha Lochinvar òg ’s e air nochdadh bhon iar,
Is gun aon each nas fheàrr aig neach feadh nan Crìoch;
’S gun aige ball-airm ach deagh chlaidheamh a-mhàin,
E marcachd gun armachd ’s na aonar a-ghnàth;
As I was walking all alane,
I heard twa corbies making a mane;
The tane unto the t’other say,
‘Where sall we gang and dine to-day?’
