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reading

Slow Reader - by Vicki Feaver

{ Poem }

He can make sculpturesand fabulous machines, invent games, tell jokes,give solemn, adult advice-but he is slow to read.When I take him on my kneewith his Ladybird bookhe gazes into the air,sighing and shaking his headlike an old manwho knows the mountainsare impassable. He toys with words,letting them go coldas gristly meat,until I relentand let him […]

slow - by Julie Johnstone

{ Poem }

          slow           down           long           enough           to           read           these           words

A Book - by Emily Dickinson

{ Poem }

There is no frigate like a book
/ To take us lands away,
/ Nor any coursers like a page
/ Of…

I Opened A Book - by Julia Donaldson

{ Poem }

I opened a book and in I strode
/ Now nobody can find me.
/ I’ve left my chair, my house, my road,
/ My town…

Hanging On - by Pauline Prior-Pitt

{ Poem }

I’m hanging on to your early days
/ when you can’t wait for me to arrive
/ for cuddles and tickles and…

Random - by Liz Lochhead

{ Poem }

for Robyn Marsack
/
/ Go take a book down from the shelf and open it.
/ Listen, this isn’t ‘book’ but box,
/ box full…

Lines for a Bookmark - by Gael Turnbull

{ Poem }

You who read…
/ May you seek
/ As you look;
/ May you keep
/ What you need;
/ May you care
/ What you choose;
/ And know here
/ In this book
/ Something strange,
/ Something…

Consequential Egg - by Rob A. Mackenzie

{ Poem }

You prefer the murk of details to the vision complete,
/ incident to…

Home Town Elegy - by G. S. Fraser

{ Poem }

(For Aberdeen in Spring)
/
/ Glitter of mica at the windy corners,
/ Tar in the nostrils, under blue lamps budding
/ Like bubbles of…

To Any Reader - by Robert Louis Stevenson

{ Poem }

As from the house your mother sees
/ You playing round the garden trees,
/ So you may see, if you will look
/ Through the…

For Gavin - by Tom Pow

{ Poem }

Gavin, it’s a beautiful winter’s day –
/ East coast, clear and bright. Let’s leave it there,
/ rinsed of all metaphors. Instead, let’s…

Infância - by Carlos Drummond de Andrade

{ Poem }

Meu pai montava a cavalo, ia para o campo.
/ Minha mãe ficava sentada cosendo.
/ Meu irmão pequeno dormia.
/ Eu sozinho menino entre mangueiras
/ lia…

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Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2026.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
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