Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Re-Opening FAQ
  • Poetry
    • Poems
    • Poets
    • Our National Poet
    • Podcasts
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Poetry and Mindfulness
    • Champions 2020
    • Posters
    • Publishers
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • National Poetry Day 2019
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Exhibitions
    • Venue hire
    • List an event
  • Shop
    • Scotland’s Makar
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Pocket Poets
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Our projects
    • Jobs
    • Our building
    • FAQs
    • Find us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
    • Easy Fundraising
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • Best Scottish Poems 2017
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

Best Scottish Poems 2017

The Plinky-Boat - by Jen Hadfield

{ Poem }

Something near to true
night-darkness. The children
are playing the Plinky-Boat –
a xylophone made
from a reclaimed yoal

Ashey Lane - by Kate Barrett

{ Poem }

Always
Solitary
Home
Excellent
Yet
Lonely
And I wish it
Never
Empty.

excerpt from Farm by the Shore - by Thomas A. Clark

{ Poem }

small oats rye bere barley
ripe harvest in late summer
a shallow ploughing
grazing and fallow in rotation

excerpt from In Darkest Capital - by Drew Milne

{ Poem }

A Critique of Dialectical Reason…

Approaching Sixty - by John Burnside

{ Poem }

In the Central Café
/ in Innsbruck,
/ a girl in a dark-blue dress
/ unlooses her hair from its clasp
/ so it falls to her waist,…

I Lost my Shoes on Rachel Street - by Rachel McCrum

{ Poem }

I lost my shoes on Rachel St.
/ Head lolled back to rest
/ against a pillow of the Mont
/ kiss the foot of the…

Prayer for My Father as a Child - by Miriam Nash

{ Poem }

In the house where he sleeps
let my ears
be the leaves at the window.

Remembering Friends Who Feared Old Age and Dementia More than Death - by Douglas Dunn

{ Poem }

No one
Looks forward to being old and alone,
The carer with a spoon,
Visitor gone

Hello, I am Scotland - by Michael Pedersen

{ Poem }

Who wakes every morning
/ in a brilliant mood as auburn bursts
/ cast filigree nets over foreheads
/ and swingparks and paint themselves
/ on pavements.

Margaret’s Moon - by Jackie Kay

{ Poem }

After she died, I swear the sky
/ Had the most beautiful of all sunsets,
/ A blush of pink, then red, a glass…

Our Place - by Colin Will

{ Poem }

Things seen and done add to memory,
are shuffled like cards in a pack,
come to the top in ways we can’t determine.
Remember this then: that here we stand,
together, once and fifty times, and this remains.

Pass the Lukewarm Forest - by Colin Herd

{ Poem }

sheer
/ anti-establishment
/ trees…

1 2 Next
  • 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 2021.
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

The Scottish Poetry Library is staffed weekdays from 10am – 2pm and is providing a limited service including postal loans and Click & Collect. For details, click COVID-19 in the menu bar above. Dismiss