Retreat - by
Once a month they escape the world of tube-trains,
/ deadlines, traffic jams, to slip on country selves
/ with their woollen shirts and…
Place: Dumfries & Galloway
The Harp of Renfrewshire - by
Contemplating a map
/
/ Annals of the trilled R, gently stroked L,
/ Lamenting O of local literature,
/ Open, on this, their one-page book,…
Solway - by
Love unfolded then, like crumpled petals
/ opening into sunlight,
/ unfurling at the stroke of spring
/
/ as we walked the seven miles of estuary,
/ reaching,…
Ettrick and Annan - by
from opening stanzas of long narrative poem
/
/ Among mountains, when they were there
/ and no man existed to fling
/ thick cold…
Histories of Desire - by
At Carsethorn, Solway Coast
/
/ That was when I threw the stone and then ran after;
/ splashing into Smallholme burn I made the…
Local things - by
At Carsethorn, Solway Coast
/
/ A bollard waits for a ship
/ that will never come in,
/ the wood is eroded, squeezed
/ into a Victorian fashion,
/ a…
Poems for Upper Nithsdale - by
Sanquhar pattern
/
/ Grey frae a distance
/ but bring yer een close ye’ll see
/ there’s black and there’s white.
/
/ Doun the mine
/
/ Wat ootside and in;…
Something Rhymed - by
You’re a gem, you’re a holy cairn
/ You’re a clattering shaw
/ You’re a Tongland Bridge
/ You’re a Solway Firth
/ You’re a Big Water of…