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Scotland

Scotland, You’re No Mine - by Hannah Lavery

{ Poem }

Scotland, you’re no mine
(you were no his)
and I don’t want you.

from Don Juan - by George Gordon, Lord Byron

{ Poem }

It may seem a schoolboy’s whine,
And yet I seek not to be grand nor witty,
But I am half a Scot by birth, and bred
A whole one, and my heart flies to my head.

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.

The Bridge Over The Atlantic - by Ian Crockatt

{ Poem }

They took our birlinn, stem and stern-postsHigh as a Venetian gondola’s, and up-turned it.Every tide in the bladder-wracked sea-tongue its keel Bridged, swam the eel-currentRaces that tracked South and NorthInto and out of the Atlantic. And theyDocked our tongues, every man’s that daredGive out a taste of his father’s banter,Effortless sound-shapes an islander’s born to. […]

ripe - by Heather H. Yeung

{ Poem }

                   for experiment:                    dissect, slice, scrape, magnify                    what is above (its glories), watch. What are feelingsto this caste (not so pale) of cell wall upon cell wall, death of […]

Demerara - by Gerda Stevenson

{ Poem }

Eliza Junor, born 1804, Demerara, died Fortrose, 1861; daughter of Hugh Junor, slave owner from the Black Isle, and an unknown mother, probably a slave, or a ‘free coloured’ woman. Died Fortrose, 1861; won a prize for penmanship at Fortrose Academy. I’ve learned my letters well – my copperplate masts and sailsflow across the page, […]

Hello, I am Scotland - by Michael Pedersen

{ Poem }

Who wakes every morning
/ in a brilliant mood as auburn bursts
/ cast filigree nets over foreheads
/ and swingparks and paint themselves
/ on pavements.

Stevenson’s Edinburgh - by Andrew Neilson

{ Poem }

Robert Louis Stevenson,
/ the author in his jimjams,
/ wrote about the New Town,
/ its draughty parallelograms…

The Beginning of a New Song - by Iain Crichton Smith

{ Poem }

Let her new river shine on a day
That is fresh and glittering and contemporary;

Let it be true to itself and to its origins
Inventive, original, philosophical

Sanctified - by Stuart A. Paterson

{ Poem }

Scotland where can we find you, / where are you hiding your gallus self?…

Strathconon - by Ian A. Olson

{ Poem }

When you took the autumn to London
/ And left me to burrow into winter
/ I said they could pack up Strathconon
/ Box up…

Heart - by Stuart A. Paterson

{ Poem }

Home is where the heart is / or home is where the art is…

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Scottish Poetry Library
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Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2021.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
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