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Poetry Map

We all know poems about Scotland but can the shape and nature of Scotland be drawn entirely in poetry? StAnza has set itself the challenge to see if this is the case. Find out more about the project and how to submit your poem by clicking here, or browse the poems using the map. Latest poems are listed below.

Poetry Map of Scotland, poem no. 267: Millport

Thursday 14 July 2016, 20:31
Old Millie
 
I smile when I see the sea it feels like home.
 
Millie was so inviting she showed me history and took me on an enchanting tour.
 
There was no guide just sweet wee Millie quietly whispering and uncovering lots of treasure, to those who would listen, to those who would enable her Beauty to be seen.
 
There was a wee story that the street behind the Newton bar lay an enchanted wall, legend has it that when the moon was full the wall would open to reveal a secret garden. 
 
There's a crocodile shaped rock treasured among new comers and old comers.
 
Now mr croc is subject to the new selfie or two but before it would just be the old disposable camera point and snap.
 
Millie is full of surprises in every little nook and cranny there is something for everyone.
 
I've had mint ice cream that tasted just like toothpaste don't knock it though until you've tried it.
 
There's rock pools with the odd pearl if your lucky.
 
Don't get jealous we have experienced the odd giant jellyfish or two washed up for a stinging session on the beach.
 
There's also the butcher they do good picnic items for a good beach barbie most people prefer Kames Bay but the other beaches are equally good. 
 
In the end I have to leave so I take a deep breath and whisper........ Thank you Millie. 
 
Lindsay Kinloch

 

View our full map of Scotland in Poems as it grows »

For instructions on how to submit your own poems, click here

All poems from our Poetry Map of Scotland  are subject to copyright and should not be reproduced otherwise without the poet's permission.

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Poetry Map of Scotland, poem no. 266: Killin

Thursday 14 April 2016, 12:04
Inhabitation
 
This is a longhouse, a hut
knee-deep in damp, a runnel
separating bairns from cows.
It is made of found stones,
the first turf roof replaced
by red-painted corrugated iron.
 
There is not much inside,
the cluttered mantel holds the clock
and three prized flowery plates.
The cooking happens on the fire,
the bed in the recess sleeps three,
but there’s a parlour kept decent
for the minister, the laird, a coffin.
 
But this is home, because
the flecked and rippled chestnut spars
that roof the byre shine red like light
filtered through closed eyelids,
because the blackened pot
always steaming on the hob
simmers to the stirrer’s pulse.
 
 
Elizabeth Rimmer
 
from The Territory of Rain (Red Squirrel Press, 2016)
 

View our full map of Scotland in Poems as it grows »

For instructions on how to submit your own poems, click here

All poems from our Poetry Map of Scotland  are subject to copyright and should not be reproduced otherwise without the poet's permission.

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Poetry Map of Scotland, poem no. 265: Helensburgh

Tuesday 29 March 2016, 10:01

Mackintosh, still

White walls
Oh that hint of grey
Mackintosh through and through
Honeysuckle rooms. Red roses.
Stands still
 
 
Sioned Gill

View our full map of Scotland in Poems as it grows »

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All poems from our Poetry Map of Scotland  are subject to copyright and should not be reproduced otherwise without the poet's permission.

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Poetry Map of Scotland, poem no. 264: Glasgow

Sunday 27 March 2016, 10:07
Rebuilding No. 18 Park Terrace
 
A building is a ship, sailing
not through space but time
we’ll patch this old girl up
re-roofing, floating beams across
the chasms, re-plastering cornices
the sweet smell of fresh paint
our hands haunted by echoes
of those first men in aprons
waistcoats and bunnets
who under barking orders
of gentlemen architect and mason
built a new Athens in the sky
singing at the centre of empire
the view from this hill then
still of green surrounding fields
on days when the smog cleared.
 
Well-to-do merchants
shipping magnates stinking rich
then seventies students ten to a room
before the fire. Each only passengers
as we are. But the expressions on
the carved lion’s faces steal our breath
in the wintery air on the scaffold
(waiting two centuries for their close-up)
their author a humble craftsman
casually, anonymously: leaving beauty
for us to find.
 
Douglas Thompson
 

 

View our full map of Scotland in Poems as it grows »

For instructions on how to submit your own poems, click here

All poems from our Poetry Map of Scotland  are subject to copyright and should not be reproduced otherwise without the poet's permission.

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Poetry Map of Scotland, poem no. 263: Edinburgh

Tuesday 15 March 2016, 11:03
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery
 
displays the importance
of gold leaf to civic pride –
 
something there is
that composes itself
 
into acanthus
or laurel,
 
something that bears pride
boldly,
 
its bright-set leaves avid
and exultant
 
 
Sheila Wild

View our full map of Scotland in Poems as it grows »

For instructions on how to submit your own poems, click here

All poems from our Poetry Map of Scotland  are subject to copyright and should not be reproduced otherwise without the poet's permission.

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Poetry Map of Scotland, poem no. 262: Forres

Thursday 3 March 2016, 06:20
The Tolbooth, Forres
 
Symbol of continuity and permanence,
the stocky building towers,
staunch, immovable in driving rain.
Bastion against time’s slow passage,
brooding in the town’s living heart,
pondering the glory-days,
times of power and punishment.
 
No horses clop on cobble stones,
no hawkers haunt the High Street,
only name-shadows evoke the past,
Hangman’s Well, Castle Hill, Bogton.
Funnelling through wynds and closes,
wind-songs whisper of days gone by.
 
Enduring, the Tolbooth stands
rooted in this place.
Ill-used through the gloom of years
now claimed at last by those who care,
Ghostly lights of green and red
and amber wash the night,
flash their unending celebration
through the velvet silence of ‘content.’
 
Andy Allan

View our full map of Scotland in Poems as it grows »

For instructions on how to submit your own poems, click here

All poems from our Poetry Map of Scotland  are subject to copyright and should not be reproduced otherwise without the poet's permission.

Categories: Poetry Map
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