Head of a Young Woman - by
Five thousand years between us, and yet
not a moment, it seems – recognition
like that spark you’d know how to strike
from stone.
Shetland Islands
Shetland - by
Our silences become the better part of us.
Haem Tochts - by
Der a ön o haet ida gairden here,
/ Whaar da sun-flooer proodly staands,
/ An dark-red roses trowe da…
Shetlanrie - by
Some dösna laek wir dialect an dis is what dey say: …
Hjalta - by
You dönna see da Simmer pass,
Rose-red wi laamer een;
You see a glöd o blue an gold,
A glisk o white an green
Water-Lilies - by
Whin da laeves an buds o da water-lilies
/ Spread roond da loch der dark-green frill
/ I took my…
Ham Voe Haiku - by
an extract
/
/ Hamnafield and me
/ this morning: my pluming breath,
/ its scribbles of scree.
/
/ Among chains and rope,
/ lashed here all winter: Swallow,
/ Lively, Brighter Hope.
/
/ Mandolin,…
Sheep Hill, Fair Isle - by
I begin sheepishly,
/ feel with fingers
/ attempt to roo
/
/ your softness taut
/ in struggle. I soothe
/ …
MacDiarmid on Whalsay - by
1. A Glass of Cold Water, Mid-Afternoon
/
/ Some like it hot, after dinner, but poets know their
/ preference: A house at home in…
St Ninian’s Isle - by
Hit hed ta be a saint at strayed dis far nort
/ at cared aboot da sowls o Pictish fisherfock.
/ Foo da bairns…
Brekken Beach, Nort Yell - by
A mile aff we catch a glisk
/ o Brekken beach: webbed
/ atween headlands, a glansin arc
/ o ancient shalls
/ sun sillered.
/
/ Waves aff Arctic floes
/ bank…
Sang oda Post War Exiles - by
Harry listen Harry please
/ We canna bide nae langer.
/ Da aert is tired man, sae is du,
/ We’ll sell da sheep, we’ll sell…