noo. aboot the thistle - by
that occupies the common boons
thae ragments o quenry
that floor and weed aa at once
an breenge ower continents
in wildfloo’er Scots :
Language: Scots
Handsel - by
Aince I was oot stravaigin wi my faither
Near Dechmont, Lanarks, whan we cam acors
Fou Muin - by
(efter Munestruck by Hugh MacDiarmid)Her siller ee, wide appen,leukin doon the nicht on me;an I mind hoo she claucht us lang syne, stuid here in the haa bi the winnock, the drapes no yit drawn ower. We were passin ilk ither, frae chaumer tae chaumer,snecked in oor ain warlds –ootrels aamaist wi oor darg;but we […]
Skybrak - by
Hauf-licht at the easinan the warld’s afluchterwi mavis-sang an merle.Weel I ken thir fechtin, flirtin,but aw ma lugs can mak ootis the watter o a hunner burnsranklin wi thirsels tae jyne thir twinit sillerwi the firth ootbyan the mar ayont it,its drookit deepthsae unbekent an alkyndas the wanlit liftwhaur, glowerin abuin us,the roustie stour o […]
The Beddin - by
Barely a twalmonth eftir,ah wis oot oan the muir huntinfur men. No mindin the poke in the eefrae the pick-daurk brainch, the scloutcho ma knees in the copse. The cop in a cape at a canter ahint mewis — Jesus wept! — a sair fleg;his nag’s breath foggin the airlik a draigon in moonshine,the polis […]
Plinth - by
This tuimit plinth I howk fur thee, my Lord,
is biggit fae yir consecratit ward;
its stony letters that spell oot
the idol’s lack, syne yell it oot.
Colin Bramwell
Colin Bramwell is a writer and translator, mainly of poetry. He was born in Ayrshire, grew up in Fortrose on the Black Isle and lives in Edinburgh. Colin’s work has been published widely in magazines such as Poetry Review, Irish Pages, The London Magazine, PN Review, Magma, The Rialto, New Writing Scotland, Interpret, Poetry Scotland and […]
Aiblins - by
If you could see us noo,wid ye think the instinct deid?That between the thistle n moonwe ur lost? Better tae be left alanethan right. I cin dae wit I wantwae yer language. Freedomtae choose is a chance (again) tae get it wrang.Look how far we’ve come,tae keek through the dreichit cloud…Listen: leave the North Seain […]
Charles Lang
Charles Lang is from Glasgow. His poems have appeared in numerous publications including Poetry Ireland Review, The Poetry Review and The Stinging Fly. He was selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions series in 2022. In 2024, he was Ciaran Carson Writing and the City Fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, and was shortlisted for the Edwin […]
Michael Mullen
Michael Mullen is a queer writer and spoken word artist writing in both Scots and Standard English. Their work interrogates the relationship between art, class and identity. The writing is experimental with both content and form, and they take influence from various types of poetry and writing, from lyrical poetry to humorous modern ballads, recently […]
Whaun She is Done - by
Let hir stravaig tae this wee wuid, be a rickilt road
ir a starlicht dream. She wid lik tae mind
this patch o lan, waatch ower it aa, lug in
tae thi blethers o burds, thi whush o thi burn.
Stone Soup - by
My granma was a master of cobbling
broth; nine weans, nae onions, yet somehow knew
how to sook umami from a pebble.
Spurtle-thirled in the scullery, she’d stew