Three Dollars Cash Three dollars cash For a pair of catalog shoes Was what the midwife charged My mama For bringing me. “We wasn’t so country then,” says Mom, “You being the last one— And we couldn’t, like We done When she brought your Brother, Send her out to the Pen And let her pick …
Jimmy Five Daughters 1912 baby born third wean first boy tae Isabella Lochhead David Quarrell Old Rutherglen Road Tenement Gorbals trams trundled past as baby arrived as he came into the world survival tenuous given mortality figures of that time. survive wee jimmy did my father Jimmy Five Daughters think he be proud of his …
Three poems by Emily Dickinson 346 “Hope” is the thing with feathers— That perches in the soul— And sings the tune without the words— And never stops—at all— And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard— And sore must be the storm— That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm— I’ve heard it in the …
Please Call Me By My True Names Do not say that I will depart tomorrow – because even today I still arrive. Look deeply: I arrive in every second to be a bud on a Spring branch, to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile, learning to sing in my new nest, to be …
With many thanks to Cicely Gill for letting us publish her poem here which she originally posted, together with the following words, on social media pages last month. Cicely is a poet and writer who lives on Arran. What’s on my mind? Well BLM of course. I want to share with you a poem I …
This month we bring you the last of the poems we received during April and May, in an email exchange that coincided with the start of lockdown. The poems have kept coming over the past few weeks, and capture a lovely glimpse into people’s moments of reflection during this period. Some people have been inspired …
PRAYERS IN RECIPES By Diana Dodd, May 2020 In tribute to our late father, Ted Dodd (died 1995) and mother, Edith Dodd (died 1967). My sister has been clearing out and found our father’s prayers as an Elder for the Church of Scotland written between 1968 and 1973, inside a 1950s Cookery Book and Home …
Epistle Tae Corona Jon Foggo, April 2020 To whom whom it may concern Ah jist recently, hae been telt, Whit a puir haun we’ve a’ been dealt. An a’ oor collars hae been felt; When truth unfaulds, Rest assured, someb’dy’s makin gelt, If truth be tauld. As Corona Covid nineteen rages, The Info’s comin oot …
In last month’s issue of the Voice we had a post filled with poems that had been exchanging both locally and across the world via an email Poem Exchange. The poems have kept coming over the past few weeks, so we have included here another post (in addition to our usual Poem of the Month) …
The World Turned Upside Down In 1649 To St George’s Hill, A ragged band they called the Diggers Came to show the people’s will They defied the landlords They defied the laws They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs. We came in peace they said To dig and sow We came to work the …