Murmansk - by
He minded dem getting torpedoed i da White Sea,
hit blew da boo clean aff.
Da Bulksheid, he held though an dey limpit inta Arcangel,
whaur shu wis lashed ta da peir, an micht still be dere yet.
ships and boats
The Tiller - by
I am dark and smooth, polished by many hands, but the one hand that I loved has gone, so let me swing to the rudder’s motion, moored in the lee, alone. I knew the change of weather by his grip and felt his hunter’s passion like a tide, and the herring scales he rubbed on […]
The Prows o’ Reekie - by
O wad this braw hie-heapit toun Sail aff like an enchanted ship, Drift owre the warld’s seas up and doun, And kiss wi’ Venice lip to lip, Or anchor into Naples’ Bay A misty island far astray Or set her rock to Athens’ wa’, Pillar to pillar, stane to stane, The cruikit spell o’ her […]
Girl of the red-gold hair - by
Girl of the red-gold hair, far from you, o love, my aim; girl of the red-gold hair, far from you my sorrow. Tonight on the Sound of Raasay my hand is on the helm, listlessly the wind shakes the sail, my heart is dumb, aching for your music, today and tomorrow indifferent to my expectation. […]
The Plinky-Boat - by
Something near to true
night-darkness. The children
are playing the Plinky-Boat –
a xylophone made
from a reclaimed yoal
Submarine - by
/ I marched along the cliff
/ looking for insights to clear my thick head
/ and saw a submarine surfacing down in the Firth
/
/ rising
/ shaking…
The Greater Sea - by
Oor boat is rigged tae face the greater sea,
/ The day daws blithely whan we must set sail.
/ Hou aften hae we…
The Old Nobby - by
My hull is leaking like a sieve,
/ The paint is flaking off my hatches,
/ My heart’s not worn upon my sleeve
/ (But on…
Every Woman - by
Who can gauge our range or pace? Every woman, / a signal tower, an illusion, a ship bearing dead ahead.
Aald Boat - by
Doo minds dee, whan da wind stöd wast,
/ I’d lay twa linns, and rin dee doon,
/ An tak a stane, an step…
Twin-Screw Set – 1902 - by
Week after week I watched the darlings growing
/ Like two strange children in an orphan home,
/ Aft from the thrust block to…
Head of a Young Woman - by
Five thousand years between us, and yet / not a moment, it seems…