An Sgrìobhaiche Gàidhlig
Mar chleasaiche-sorcais ann an cartùn-TV,
a’ dàibhigeadh le snasmhorachd ghlan
bho chòmhnard bheag 60 troigh a dh’ àirde
a-steach dha ghlainne làn bùirn.
Ri bas-bhualadh sgapte
bho chorra ròn.
Translations of this Poem
The Gaelic Writer
Translator: Robert Crawford
Like Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons
taking a pinpoint plunge
from a mile-high divingboard thin as a skelf
into a dramful of water
out here in front of a tiny audience
of halfhearted seals applauding.
About this poem
This poem and the translation or ‘response’ were published in Dreuchd An Fhigheadair / The Weaver’s Task: a Gaelic Sampler, edited by Christopher Whyte, and published by the Scottish Poetry Library in 2007. Seven Scottish poets with no knowledge of Gaelic were offered literal versions of contemporary Gaelic poems. Their responses were published alongside the Gaelic originals in the book, and can also be read on the website collected under the tag: The Weaver’s Task.
