Status Updates From A Year of Scottish Poems

oct 13 - “Harsh is thy schooling, Yet great is the gain: True hearts and strong limbs,
The beauty of faces, Kissed by the wind And caressed by the rain.”

oct 12 - “The rain-clouds gather above an unyielding sea.
Wildflowers and seeding grasses rustle in anticipation of the next downpour.”

oct 11 - “Back here, the iron line crosses future, past”

oct 10 - “My feet they trayvel England, but I'm deein' for the north”

oct 9 - “Hey, Willie Winkie, Are ye comin ben?
The cat's singin grey thrums
Tae the sleepin hen,
The dog's speldered on the flair, An disna gie a cheep, But here's a waukrife laddie That winna fa asleep.”

oct 8 - “the stars shining in the water the stars shining in my heart the Minch like a dark mirror and your farewell kiss still on my cheek - dumb, cold, distant
- like an old moon remembering another harbour”

oct 7 - “always, the salt, the tear:
nestled houses gather distance solid on the hill, unblinking
till, on the Ness, one handkerchief, one arm waving”

oct 6 - “But lies in bed till echt or nine,
An winna come doon the stairs tae dine.”

oct 5 - “Say nothing to me now for I am overcome by this touching proximity.”

oct 4 - “The desert were a Paradise,
If thou wert there, if thou wert there.”

oct 3 - “I want”

oct 2 - “For boys have run on this shore since stories began, and wind has driven the sails of the herring hunters.”

oct 1 - “And if the two of us were together on the shores of Calgary in Mull between Scotland and Tiree, between this world and eternity, I'd stand there till time was done counting the sands grain by grain.”

sep 30 - “living like kings
on a diet of silverfish”

sep 29 - “She sits on the page translates the words into thrumming cheek-butts my nose jaggy-licks my eyelid shut and spins me a compelling tale of love beyond words.”

sep 28 - “My mother picked crab-apples off the Glasgow apple trees and pounded them with chillies to change her homesickness into green chutney.”

sep 27 - “Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie.”

sep 26 - “People are fun to notice - Their eyes taking off like birds
Away from their words
To settle on breasts and ankles
Irreverent as pigeons.”

sep 25 - “We stood below the stars of autumn, and Whispering with me, you proved you knew.”

sep 24 - “Lost ma love an' I dinna ken hoo lost ma love an' I care na' the losin' o' wan's the gainin' o' twa
I'll find me another I fear na'.”

sep 23 - “they taught
that what you wrote in ink
carried more weight than what you wrote in pencil and could not be rubbed out.”

sep 22 - “They come back
To the same place, the same day, without fail;
Precision instruments, a compass Somewhere deep in their souls.”

sep 21 - “'Now Johnnie, be as good's your word;
Come, let us try both fire and sword”

sep 20 - “Slowly, smiling,
As in France, Follow through The country dance.”

sep 19 - “and I am terrified I shall not be near you again until the rocks are broken
and our dead dust is blown out into space.”