Saying goodbye to my daughter at night - by
The sound down low, the impossible blue
/ of the Water Cube in Beijing filling the screen.
/
/ A young diver stands on the…
mothers
With My Mother, Missing the Train - by
She was always late. At the final minute
/ we’d run for the city train, which roared right past,
/ its line of faces…
View of Scotland/Love Poem - by
Down on her hands and knees
/ at ten at night on Hogmanay,
/ my mother still giving it elbowgrease
/ jiffywaxing the vinolay. (This is…
Keeping Orchids - by
The orchids my mother gave me when we first met
/ are still alive, twelve days later. Although
/
/ some of the buds remain…
Lucozade - by
My mum is on a high bed next to sad chrysanthemums.
/ ‘Don’t bring flowers, they only wilt and die.’
/ I am scared…
Spinning plates - by
My mother was mad as mercury,
/ mad as a silken Disraeli stovepipe hat
/ hiding a gypsum-white rabbit.
/
/ She once told me – the…
Moon - by
Last night, when the moon
slipped into my attic-room
as an oblong of light,
I sensed she’d come to commiserate.
Fireworks aff the Castle - by
Fireworks aff the Castle
/ Goin WHEECH, WHEECH, WHEECH
/ Bairns in the library
/ Gettin WHEESHT, WHEESHT, WHEESHT
/
/ Cans o Irn Bru
/ Goin…
Màthair - by
Bha sinn a’coimhead nan rionnag
mus do thionndaidh sinn a-steach leis na coin,
is thuirt thu gum bu mhithich dhut
Last Night I Dreamt - by
Last night I dreamt of Mama’s house
/ But mama wasn’t there
/ Still her essence wafted through
/ As carried on the air
/ Her windows they…
From the Intestines of a Mystical Dog - by
My mother kept her Swiss watch in the remoteness
/ of the master bedroom, in her sacred wardrobe drawer,
/ in that handbag which…
So Much for Mañana - by
After twenty years in the mainland
/ Mother’s gone back to the Island
/ to let her skin
/ melt from her bones
/ under her native sun.
/ She…