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cities

Interventions around a city - by Vahni Capildeo

{ Poem }

The grandeur of the buildings which were wiped out
may be reconceivable by the sky’s grandeur

The Prows o’ Reekie - by Lewis Spence

{ Poem }

O wad this braw hie-heapit toun Sail aff like an enchanted ship, Drift owre the warld’s seas up and doun, And kiss wi’ Venice lip to lip, Or anchor into Naples’ Bay A misty island far astray Or set her rock to Athens’ wa’, Pillar to pillar, stane to stane, The cruikit spell o’ her […]

Hotel Room, 12th Floor - by Norman MacCaig

{ Poem }

This morning I watched from here
a helicopter skirting like a damaged insect
the Empire State Building,

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…

Buddy, Can You Spare a Rhyme? - by Stuart A. Paterson

{ Poem }

Buddy can you spare a rhyme, the time, / a line for Paisley?…

The Glassblower Dances - by Rachel McCrum

{ Poem }

The words first appeared on a lamp post
/ on a dirty road between a chip shop
/ and some tired Turkish…

Text - by Imtiaz Dharker

{ Poem }

I am sending a message again.
/ Maybe you can’t hear it
/ through all the noise of lights
/ and the dangerous way things…

Home Town Elegy - by G. S. Fraser

{ Poem }

(For Aberdeen in Spring)
/
/ Glitter of mica at the windy corners,
/ Tar in the nostrils, under blue lamps budding
/ Like bubbles of…

The Silver City - by Marion Angus

{ Poem }

Yonder she sits beside the tranquil Dee,
/ Kindly yet cold, respectable and wise,
/ Sharp-tongued though civil, with wide-open eyes,
/ Dreaming of hills, yet…

Edinburgh - by Margot Robert Adamson

{ Poem }

If they should ask what makes the stuff of us
/ We should call up such idle things…

Visiting Winter: a Johannesburg Quintet - by William Bonar

{ Poem }

1. Visiting Winter
/
/ a wee bit frosting
/ by night
/ buys a wheen o
/ sun block
/ Naw, ye’ll no see me
/ back north
/ he hoasts
/ cauld n beery
/
/ 2. Scrap
/
/ Metal,…

Glasgow Street - by William Montgomerie

{ Poem }

Out of this ugliness may come
/ some day, so beautiful a flower
/ that men…

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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).
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