Holy Gordon’s Prayer - by
O Lord my God, forgie this swither,
/ pray hear thy servant in his dither.
/ Should ah bide here? or cross the river…
politics
George Square - by
My seventy-seven-year-old father
/ put his reading glasses on
/ to help my mother do the buttons
/ on the back of her dress.
/ ‘What a pair…
Waiting for the Barbarians - by
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
/
/ The barbarians are due here…
For the Opening of the Scottish Parliament, 9 October 2004 - by
Open the doors! Light of the day, shine in; light of the mind, shine out!
/ We have a building which is…
Transparency: An Address - by
Civil society, must we visit you the hard way?
/
/ Our diplomatic baggage gets lost in transit.
/ We don’t read much now except…
In Praise of Bridges - by
I.
/
/ On our immigrant Canadian street
/ we heard at least twenty words for frozen,
/ spoken by snow-blonde children named for Icelandic volcanoes,
/ Ukrainian saints…
Coming back to Meall Fuar Mhonaidh - by
February, and the rising light leaves nothing illegible.
/ Meall Fuar Mhonaidh, snow-fisted, risks its name,
/ a lump of rock, rounded; a muscled…
Loss - by
The sound of horses’ hooves in market square
/ recalls the riding out to mark the bounds,
/ the summer rites and battles fought…
Morning Glory - by
1. SPL, Summer 1999
/
/ A photograph taken upstairs in the Library
/ of one of your ‘kinetic poems’,
/ the upright rotating bluegreen barber’s pole…
The Canny Moment - by
Pu awa the endill scheit o winter.
/ Yank it aff fae the pikes an runkled scruif
/ for the canny moment. Fae…
Labour - by
The bricht rays o the Winter Solstice daws,
/ Streakin oot owre the Mauchline Basin Plain,
/ Lichtin oan a slumberin colossus,
/ The…
Wounded Dancer - by
The earth as holy ground
/
/ The dancer holds her breath
/ homo-would-be-wise walks the earth
/ boots up and strides the earth
/ which now lies…