Consequential Egg - by
You prefer the murk of details to the vision complete,
/ incident to…
poems inspired by artworks
Dander round the loch with Henry Raeburn and James Hutton - by
Mother, I think / it’s come at last: / my skating minister vocation. …
A Quiet Life - by
in memory of my grandfather
/ (after Schubert’s piano sonata in C minor D958)
/
/
/ Hammer-blows ring on a hull in dry-dock
/ then dazzling sparks…
Havisham - by
Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then
/ I haven’t wished him dead. Prayed for it
/ so hard I’ve dark green pebbles…
Assisi - by
The dwarf with his hands on backwards
/ sat, slumped like a half-filled sack
/ on tiny twisted legs from which
/ sawdust might run,
/ outside the…
Thaim That Socht Eftir Me - by
Thaim that socht eftir me noo flee awa,
/ Thaim that cam creepin barfit i the snaw.
/ Ah kent them gentil, meek an…
The Colourist - by
It wis the licht he desired:
/ The mellin pinks o the stane,
/ At Cassis, that myndit him o Mull;
/ But here wis flesh…
The Place de L’Institut - by
i.m. Anne Redpath
/
/ When I pause (I always do) the place
/ is placid – no reason to pause – its blandness
/ a principle…
Arabian Nights - by
When the call of the hudud,
/ Echoes through the palm fronds
/ Carrying in their mists,
/ Visions, memories:
/
/ Caravans of high spirited steads,
/ Crisscrossing the endless…
My Apologies - by
My apologies, my honoured guests,
/ The newsreader lied in his last bulletin:
/ There is no sea in Baghdad
/ Nor pearls
/ Not even an island,
/ And…
Up Loch Fyne - by
/ The humped grey fish-watcher has become with one wingflap
/ The elegant trailing heron that Hokusai dreamed up,
/ Far from Loch Fyne.
/ May my…
Seer - by
for John Ruskin
/
/ “and through those eyes
/ now filled with dust,
/ the light of nature”
/
/ One
/
/ Pacing on the high walk
/ we catch…