Discovery I believe in the great discovery. I believe in the man who will make the discovery. I believe in the fear of the man who will make the discovery. I believe in his face going white, his queasiness, his upper lip drenched in cold sweat. I believe in the burning of his notes, burning …
Impossible Friendships For example, with someone who no longer is, who exists only in yellowed letters. Or long walks beside a stream, whose depths hold hidden porcelain cups – and the talks about philosophy with a timid student or the postman. A passerby with proud eyes whom you’ll never know. …
Waiting for the Barbarians The barbarians are due here today. What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? Why isn’t anything going on in the senate? Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?Because the barbarians are coming today. What’s the point of senators making laws now? Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do …
By The People of Scotland, curated by Makar Kathleen Jamie. Published in December 2023 by the Scottish Poetry Library I saw a dead child today, in rubble, on TV; his cold blue hand – meanwhile she burns, weeping, the mother city eòin iarainn, a’ leigeil dubh-shìl, an nimh is fuath (iron birds, scatter their blackseed, …
Robert Burns once wrote: “Peace, thy olive wand extend, And bid wild War his ravage end, Man with brother Man to meet, And as a brother kindly greet…” Poetry has long played a powerful part in the peace movement. A way to express despair when faced with a world at a war. But also a …
Christmas A God’s born. Others die. Reality Has neither come nor gone: a change of Error. Now we have another Eternity, And always the one passed away was better. Blind, Science is working the useless ground. Mad, Faith is living the dream of its cult. A new God is a word – or …