A Woman in the Street - by
O bonnie lad wi’ the kilt sae braw
An’ tossel’t sporran swingin’ –
Wi’ dirk at the hip, an’ ribbons rid;
Ye set my hert a-singin’.
falling in love
Poem for a Hospital Wall - by
Love has been loitering
/ down this corridor
/ has been seen
/ chatting up out-patients
/ spinning the wheels of wheelchairs
/ fluttering the pulse of the night nurse
/ appearing,…
The First Kiss - by
What a disappointment. Nothing like the movies,
/ nothing like the mind. A mass of muscles writhing,
/ an awkward hand on a tightened…
First Love - by
They say I should not wait about your street,
/ nor call upon your friends to hear of you,
/ or go to places…
The Cotter’s Saturday Night - by
O Scotia! my dear, my native soil! / For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent, / Long may…
The Hazel Trees - by
In the beginning Love satisfies us.
/ When Love first spoke to me of love –
/ How I laughed at her in return!…
The Brooch - by
Grandmother, grandmother,
/ Since he left I think only of him
/ And I see him everywhere
/ He gave me a fine silver brooch
/ And when…
Manuscript in a Bottle - by
I had seen coconut trees and tamarinds
/ and mangos
/ the white sails drying in the sun
/ the smoke of breakfast across the sky
/ at…
French Horn - by
For a few days only,
the plum tree outside the window
shoulders perfection.
No matter the plums will be small,
eaten only by squirrels and jays.
Love is like a dizziness - by
O, love, love, love!
Love is like a dizziness;
It winna let a puir body
Gang about his biziness!
The Owl and the Pussy-cat - by
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
/ In a beautiful pea-green boat,
/ They took some honey, and plenty…
Solway - by
Love unfolded then, like crumpled petals
/ opening into sunlight,
/ unfurling at the stroke of spring
/
/ as we walked the seven miles of estuary,
/ reaching,…