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  • Glasgow 5 March 1971
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Glasgow 5 March 1971

Edwin Morgan

With a ragged diamond
of shattered plate-glass
a young man and his girl
are falling backwards into a shop-window.
The young man’s face
is bristling with fragments of glass
and the girl’s leg has caught
on the broken window
and spurts arterial blood
over her wet-look white coat.
Their arms are starfished out
braced for impact,
their faces show surprise, shock,
and the beginning of pain.
The two youths who have pushed them
are about to complete the operation
reaching into the window
to loot what they can smartly.
Their faces show no expression.
It is a sharp clear night
in Sauchiehall Street.
In the background two drivers
keep their eyes on the road.


Edwin Morgan

from Instamatic Poems (Ian McKelvie, 1972).
also published in Collected Poems (Carcanet, 1990)

Hear a recording of this poem by Pitlochry Festival Theatre on Soundcloud.

Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Carcanet Press.

Tags:

crime English Glasgow Glasgow SQA National 5 texts SQA Set Texts violence

Learning Resources

SQA Key: National 5        Higher
  • Glasgow 5th March 1971 by Edwin Morgan Teaching Notes

    Our notes for this set text should help teachers and students alike.
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Edwin Morgan1920 - 2010

Morgan was Glasgow's first Poet Laureate 1999-2002, and the first to hold the post of Scots Makar, created by the Scottish Executive in 2004 to recognise the achievement of Scottish poets throughout the centuries.
More about Edwin Morgan

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