Watching Telly With You - by
We could go to Paris of course
/ but not so often. And it might not be quite
/ as cosy as…
everyday life
On being asked to write a poem about a tool or utensil - by
I want an item without associations,
/ something clean of history, so
/ it can’t be the dust-pan, at least fifty
/ years old and tattooed…
Things - by
There are worse things than having behaved foolishly in public.
/ There are worse things than these miniature betrayals,
/ committed or endured or…
From ‘Doing Calls on the Old Portpatrick Road’ - by
12 Graham’s Landing
/ ‘The ear says more
/ Than any tongue’
/
/ I thought I spoke the language
/ asking what the matter was, the wrong.
/ I only…
The Door - by
Go and open the door.
/ Maybe outside there’s
/ …
Let This Be Your Praise - by
And if this is not praise, this simple act of living, if this is not
/ enough, then let us lie here…
Wit is it - by
The stonemason sade it’s aw in yur heed
/ Yur eyes ur like windeez an yur brain’s gon naywhere
/ Build yurself a palace
/
/ The…
Be prepared - by
wear three T-shirts and one hooded top
/ layers are important
/ they can always come off
/ remember your oilskins
/ it’s always raining somewhere
/ wear a scarf
/ cold…
The Way of the World - by
We set out on our horses, and the small birds of dawn were with us.
/ We return to the tethering-lines with…
Home Thoughts from Abroad - by
Aifter the war, says the papers, they’ll no be content at hame,
/ The lads that hae feucht wi’ death twae ‘ear…