River - by
Past the locked garden gate / it came carrying leaves.
/ We first learnt about death / from its rough drag and…
21st century poems
Among the Blue - by
Somehow I wish I could say
/ it was indifference not love
/ that found the co-ordinates
/ for cormorants among the blue
/ the blue-white gulls
/
/ tell you…
To All Intents and Purposes - by
I have struggled all my life to never
/ write about the pepper mill
/
/ its corset shape
/ of common wood
/ and secret machinery goings-on
/ of…
Plasma Nights - by
seductive bright light
/ of the evening narrative
/
/ ease of habit
/ the need to relax
/
/ heck
/ we all need a break
/
/ so it goes
/ day into night
/
/ something to…
Something Rhymed - by
You’re a gem, you’re a holy cairn
/ You’re a clattering shaw
/ You’re a Tongland Bridge
/ You’re a Solway Firth
/ You’re a Big Water of…
Metadist Metafir - by
Ati’da plen widdin chappil
/ at da Noarbie koarnir,
/ ati’da pierie Metadist kirk,
/
/ he likks an stikks
/ da mukkil kullirt stamps
/ a ‘Chiesis an’ is…
Surprise, Surprise - by
MacSween the corner butcher with confidence displays
/ for denizens of the city – ‘of toons the a per se’
/ a vegetarian haggis,…
Setting Out - by
The gravestones still weigh the same.
/ No-one has altered the dates.
/
/ No-one asks why I’ve come back
/ again. To see not graves but
/
/ that…
Precious - by
Dressing yourself, you have found leopard-print tights
/ can be made to match a tiger-print top and ruby slippers,
/ absolutely flat; that you…
Two letters to Horace - by
1.
/
/ Dear Quintus Horatius Flaccus,
/ may I have a poem?
/ We run this little magazine.
/ It would be a good advertisement
/ for your books.
/ Our…
The Look - by
The heron’s the look of the river.
/ The moon’s the look of the night.
/ The sky’s the look of forever.
/ Snow is the…
Nightshift at the Plug Mill - by
Four hours into the dark I’d fall asleep
/ for seconds, then wake to the scream
/ of gears, as the belt started up
/ and…