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Glasgow Sonnet i

Edwin Morgan

A mean wind wanders through the backcourt trash.
Hackles on puddles rise, old mattresses
puff briefly and subside. Play-fortresses
of brick and bric-a-brac spill out some ash.
Four storeys have no windows left to smash,
but in the fifth a chipped sill buttresses
mother and daughter the last mistresses
of that black block condemned to stand, not crash.
Around them the cracks deepen, the rats crawl.
The kettle whimpers on a crazy hob.
Roses of mould grow from ceiling to wall.
The man lies late since he has lost his job,
smokes on one elbow, letting his coughs fall
thinly into an air too poor to rob.


Edwin Morgan

Reproduced with permission from the rights holders. From Collected Poems (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1990).

Tags:

architecture English Glasgow Grief & Sorrow high-rise flat poverty SQA National 5 texts

Learning Resources

SQA Key: National 5        Higher
  • Glasgow Sonnet i 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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