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danger

Risky Breasts - by Jay Whittaker

{ Poem }

Enjoy abseiling, hang-gliding, rollercoasters.
/ Are sloping off for a sly fag mid-morning.
/ Don’t care what they eat: fish suppers,
/ pizza, doughnuts, Campbell’s…

Daughter - by Ellen Bryant Voigt

{ Poem }

There is one grief worse than any other.
/ When your small feverish throat clogged, and quit
/ I knelt beside the chair on…

Recruiting - by E. Alan Mackintosh

{ Poem }

Take your risk of life and death
/ Underneath the open sky.
/ Live clean or go out quick –
/ Lads, you’re wanted. Come and…

Out of the Blue – 7 - by Simon Armitage

{ Poem }

Go up go down. Sit tight for now. Or move. Don’t move. It’s all in
/ hand. Make a call on…

Out of the Blue – 12 - by Simon Armitage

{ Poem }

You have picked me out.
Through a distant shot of a building burning
you have noticed now
that a white cotton shirt is twirling, turning.

Sonnet - by C. K. Stead

{ Poem }

Here even the valley of the shadow of death / has taken upon itself the mantle of beauty.

from Lifeboat Disaster - by William Montgomerie

{ Poem }

All this second night
/ the wind drops slates into gardens
/ bends steel radio masts at the chimney
/ smashes their teeth on…

Fish-eye - by Alison Prince

{ Poem }

Up in the dazzling dryness, mayflies dance,
/ tempting with tastiness all those who dare
/ leap through the world’s skin into empty air.
/ The…

Careful! - by Non-Scottish anonymous

{ Poem }

pull
/ a
/ rope
/ and
/ the
/ rope
/ pulls
/ in
/ the
/ forest
/ and
/ with
/ the
/ forest
/ leopards
/ come
/ to
/ town.
/ …

The Mating of Dinosaurs - by William Oliphant

{ Poem }

Tenderness is mandatory.
/ Careless lurches may draw blood,
/ enthusiasms leave abrasions,
/ excessive ardour has been known
/ to snap off spinal plates.
/
/ There is the constant…

from Nomad in the sunset - by Roza Mukasheva

{ Poem }

This time he fell in the abyss on his horse, and the Sun fell with him
/ And his voice never reached…

Parachute men say . . . - by Lenrie Peters

{ Poem }

Parachute men say
/ The first jump
/ Takes the breath away
/ Feet in the air disturb
/ Till you get used to it.
/
/ Solid ground
/ Is not where…

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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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