How to eat frogs - by
Grandmothers croak welcome, and crows
watch from a sagging power line.
superstition
The Aunties - by
They had the gift. Hidden about them
like a penny at the bottom of a pocket.
Scotland - by
‘We’ll pay for it, we’ll pay for it, we’ll pay for it!’…
Or L’infante De Salamanque… - by
I
/
/ Noli me tangere, telle est sa devise,
/ Et j’ai gardé la haute main sur la douceur.
/ Elle anime ses flancs. Cet œil…
A Lesson in Light - by
It is my two-year-old daughter’s first total lunar eclipse. We light butter
/ lamps and offer special prayers. My father thumbs…
Tuna - by
Tuna you are the mirror of the blue
/ Tuna you are the pain in my veins
/ Tuna you are lord.
/
/ When I set…
The First Rule of Sinhalese Architecture - by
Never build three doors
/ in a straight line
/
/ A devil might rush
/ through them
/ deep into your house,
/ into your life
/ …
Wolf Shadow - by
They say my great-grandmother
/ The witch Sultana Urošević
/ Had a she-wolf’s shadow
/
/ By moonlight she never
/ Went out of doors
/
/ So no one should tread…
Observances - by
A boy row in a umman’s coatie –
/ In a man’s sark row a lassie:
/ Nor wash…
Spell of the bridge - by
Hold the wish on your tongue
/ As you cross
/ What the bridge cannot hear
/ Cannot fall
/
/ For the river would carry…
The Man With Three Legs - by
From the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery,
/ University of St Andrews
/ In the autumn of 1948 a message was received from a…
The Fairies - by
Up the airy mountain,
/ Down the rushy glen,
/ We daren’t go a-hunting
/ For fear of little men;
/ Wee…