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short poems

The Dark - by Carol Ann Duffy

{ Poem }

If you think of the dark
/ as a black park
/ and the moon as a bounced ball,
/ then there’s nothing to be frightened…

Dòchas - by Maoilios Caimbeul
Myles Campbell

{ Poem }

Dòchas –
/ rionnag anns na speuran.
/
/ Dùil –
/ rocaid agus rionnag anns na speuran.
/
/ Creideamh –
/ adhar làn rionnagan.
/
/ Cinnt –
/ grian a’…

Snowdrops - by J. B. Pick

{ Poem }

Snowdrops are not innocent:
/ They fight for what they win.
/ Beauty’s what comes out:
/ Blind energy goes in.
/
/ …

Open the Door - by William Soutar

{ Poem }

Open the door for the auld year
/ It is the pairtin-time:
/ Open the door for the new year
/ And lat the bairn win…

Hooge - by Roderick Watson Kerr

{ Poem }

The moon – frozen eye –
/ Stares down stupidly,
/ And the wind licks
/ A few bare sticks,
/ Once trees:
/
/ And near the craters…

Whole Duty of Children - by Robert Louis Stevenson

{ Poem }

A child should always say what’s true
/ And speak when he is spoken to,
/ And behave mannerly at table;
/ At least as far…

from Finis Exoptatus - by Adam Lindsay Gordon

{ Poem }

Life is mostly froth and bubble,
/ Two things stand like stone,
/ Kindness in another’s trouble,
/ Courage in your own.
/ …

The Bonnie Broukit Bairn - by Hugh MacDiarmid

{ Poem }

Mars is braw in crammasy,
/ Venus in a green silk goun,
/ The auld mune shak’s her gowden feathers,
/ Their starry talk’s a wheen…

Twenty-eight Weeks - by Lesley Glaister

{ Poem }

We nearly missed her.
/ This little storm of life,
/ could have blown by
/ before we weathered her.
/ But here she is: sturdy,
/ definite, pointing her…

A Tight-Rope Act - by Gael Turnbull

{ Poem }

Holding our breath
/ in apprehension,
/ we grasp life.
/ …

‘Na Còig Corragan’ - by Scottish anonymous

{ Poem }

an òrdag
/ an sgealbag
/ an gunna fada
/ mac-an-aba
/ ‘s lùdag bheag an airgid…

In Breton - by Ian Stephen

{ Poem }

In Breton, they say
/ there’s a word that weaves between
/ green and blue, allowing for
/ haze, precipitation,
/ the burr of distance,
/ the welcome…

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