Embro to the Ploy - by
The auld Assembly-rooms, whaur Scott
foregethert wi his fiers,
nou see a gey kenspeckle lot
ablow the chandeliers.
Place: Edinburgh
Edinburgh - by
If they should ask what makes the stuff of us
/ We should call up such idle things…
From a Window in Princes Street - by
Above the Crags that fade and gloom
/ Starts the bare knee of Arthur’s Seat;
/ Ridged high against the evening bloom,…
Staying In - by
I watch the city shrug its clothes back on.
An appaloosa spatter gathers scent
that hits the brain the way it hits a lawn:
from The Wee Raggit Laddie to the Laird of Blackford Hill - by
Stout Laird o’ Blackford Hill, let me
/ But gain your honour’s lug a wee,
/ I fain wad let your lairdship see
/ …
Betrayal in Morninside - by
Embro my ain, ye are aye meant
/ tae be a city o middle-class douceness
/ …
Cougate Revisited - by
“Aa ony o us ever wantit was a hoose in Jeffrey Street”
/ – Old lady, reminiscing on her life in the…
The Daft-Days - by
Now mirk December’s dowie face
/ Glowrs owr the rigs wi sour grimace,
/ While, thro’ his minimum of space,
/ …
from Auld Reikie - by
… Now morn, with bonny purpie-smiles,
/ Kisses the air-cock o’ St Giles;
/ Rakin their een, the servant lasses
/ Early begin their lies and…
Assynt and Edinburgh - by
From the corner of Scotland I know so well
/ I see Edinburgh sprawling like seven cats
/ on its seven hills beside…
‘Quhy will ye, merchantis of renoun’ - by
Quhy will ye, merchantis of renoun,
/ Lat Edinburgh, your nobill toun,
/ For laik of reformatioun
/ The commone proffeitt tyine, and…
Embra buses - by
I like tae sit at the front of the bus
/ and keek through the hole
/ at the driver’s heid.
/ As he pulls on…