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  • poverty and social deprivation
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poverty and social deprivation

Poor Poetry - by Thomas A. Clark

{ Poem }

Multiform work

Malcolm MacKerral - by Angus Martin

{ Poem }

MacKerral, that was one hard winter.
Your father died on the moor road,
his bag of meal buried under snows.
Death relieved him of his load.

Glasgow Sonnet i - by Edwin Morgan

{ Poem }

A mean wind wanders through the backcourt trash.
Hackles on puddles rise, old mattresses
puff briefly and subside…

In Days of Darkness - by Stuart A. Paterson

{ Poem }

Two days before your death, you wrote / There is not much to report from here.

That’s Life - by Alan Bold

{ Poem }

Far from the scent of the crocus
/ And the pavanne of Scottish daffodils
/ A loud crash was heard in Princes Street.
/ Safe from…

The Shopping Forecast - by Eddie Gibbons

{ Poem }

The Shopping Forecast issued by the Dole Office
/ at 1930 on Monday 1st January.
/
/ There are warnings of Sales in Frasers,
/ Debenhams,…

‘The Black Belt’ - by Jean Guthrie-Smith

{ Poem }

Gruff trams and trains criss-cross and intersect
/ With glittering steel this leprous countryside;
/ Pyramid slagheaps threaten, seamed and specked
/ With smouldering pink: a…

Hard Working Women - by Msandi Kababa

{ Poem }

Hold on Women of great courage
/ You have held on so bravely and tirelessly
/ Hold on Women of great courage, hold on
/
/ Women…

Some Bright Elegance - by Kayo Chingonyi

{ Poem }

For the screwfaced in good shoes that paper
/ the walls of dance halls. I have little patience.
/ I say dance, not to…

Poetry in Hiligaynon - by Richard John Alayon

{ Poem }

‘Ne, please prepare
/ lunch
/ for we have a guest.
/ He was my companion
/ when I was still studying
/ the foolish ways of the town.
/
/ Tell…

The City of Beggar Children - by Roberto Sosa

{ Poem }

Where do the beggar children come from,
/ what forces multiply their rags?
/
/ Whose heart has never felt those fingers
/ pecked
/ by birds with copper…

Second Lives - by David Kinloch

{ Poem }

Leaves turn sere and there are bings
/ from networks stretching in through the window:
/ you could tiptoe now among the stubby thumbs…

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The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
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