Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • Poems
    • Poets
    • Our National Poet
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Podcasts
    • Posters
    • Publishers
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
  • Learning
    • National Poetry Day
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Exhibitions
    • Venue hire
    • List an event
    • Fringe application
  • Shop
    • Shop help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Our projects
    • Support us
    • Jobs
    • FAQs
  • Visit
    • Find us
    • Our building
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

Poetry

Search and browse from over 3,000 poems, use our Online Guide to Scottish Poets, or dip into our Best Scottish Poems anthologies.

Find poems

Search from over 3,000 selected poems on this site or explore our full collection in our online catalogue

  • Search our website
  • Browse categories
  • SPL online catalogue

Browse by Category

Language
  • British Sign Language (BSL)
  • English
  • Gaelic
  • Scots
  • Shetlandic
  • Translations
Mood
  • Courage
  • Despair & Loneliness
  • Grief & Sorrow
  • Homesickness
  • Love
  • Optimism & Happiness
Occasion
  • Birth
  • Burns Night
  • Christmas
  • For Funerals
  • For Weddings
Place
  • Dumfries & Galloway
  • Edinburgh
  • Fife & Angus
  • Glasgow
  • Highlands & Islands
  • Scotland
Curriculum Level
  • SQA Higher texts
  • SQA National 5 texts

Poems

A full index of online poems from the Scottish Poetry Library listed by theme.
Discover poems

Online guide to Scottish poets

Our online guide to Scottish poets features biographies on notable Scottish poets and examples of their poetry.
Explore the Online Guide

Our National Poet

Jackie Kay, Makar 2016-2020
Find out more

Podcasts

Our weekly programme of poets, poems and news for you to listen to.
Listen to our podcasts

Best Scottish Poems

Scottish Poetry Library's annual online anthology of the year's 20 Best Scottish Poems, edited each year by a different editor.
Read Best Scottish Poems

Posters

Download our poetry posters
Find out more

Publishers

Our growing directory of Scottish poetry publishers.
Learn about publishers

Online Shop

Browse our range of poetry books, cards and gifts in our online shop.
Shop now

Podcasts

Our audio programme of poets, poems and news for you to listen to.
Listen Now

Popular Themes

18th century poems 19th century poems 20th century poems 21st century poems African poetry ageing Best Scottish Poems 2004 Best Scottish Poems 2005 Best Scottish Poems 2007 birds childhood early 20th century poems families food home identity illness islands landscape language memory mothers nature Placebook Scotland poems on postcards Poetry By Heart Scotland post-1914 Poetry by Heart Scotland pre-1914 politics Robert Burns Scots recitals for children Scottish Borders scottish poems spring SQA Set Texts suitable for children The Hand that Sees the sea Tools of the Trade war Welsh wildlife winter work World War I writing poetry
The computer scares me,
its crashes and codes,
its links with spies and gunshot,
its text that...
Continue reading The Privacy of Typewriters
More from Les Murray
Share poem on Facebook Share poem on Twitter Share poem on Pinterest
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2019.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
By leaves we live