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Shandwick Stone

Ken Cockburn

As jets without the black box of memory
Startle sheep in deserted glens
the stone hunters stalk their various prey.

Chaotic and recurrent as the tides
incised patters swirl underneath them.
The Pictish beast, that composite

bird-fish-mammal, harbours a smile
having already weathered eras and elements
untraceable by radar.

The rain-clouds gather above an unyielding sea.
Wildflowers and seeding grasses rustle
in anticipation of the next downpour.


Ken Cockburn

from Present Poets, edited by Jenni Calder (National Museum of Scotland, 1998)

Reproduced by permission of the author.

Tags:

Highlands & Islands landscape Scotland time
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Ken Cockburnb.1960

Ken Cockburn works as a freelance writer and translator, based in Edinburgh. His poetic practice often involves collaborations in other art forms, as in the Road North project with Alec Finlay, a Scottish version of Basho’s 18th-century journey in...
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