Scots featured poem - July 2009

This piece of writing was selected by the staff at the Scottish Poetry Library who receive Foundation funding from the Scottish Arts Council

It’s aboot the labour hammers    nails hammers    nails hammers    nails heh Casey did a tell ye a goat a couple a poems published widizthatmean widayyemean dizthatmeanyegetmoneyfurrit ch       naw aw       right hammers    nails hammers    nails hammers    nails William Letford This poem won the Edwin Morgan Travel Bursary which was awarded by the Arts Trust of Scotland

About the poet William Letford lives in Stirling and works as a roofer. He is currently studying for a Masters Degree in Creative Writing at Glasgow University.  Last year he received a New Writers award from the Scottish Book Trust and an SQA Star Award. This year he was the recipient of an Edwin Morgan Travel Bursary from the Arts Trust Scotland.

Inspiration for the Poem The centre of the poem is a short conversation that took place while my workmate and I were slating a roof. The sentences and the noise our tools made as we worked stayed with me. Simple words can sparkle. If you snatch language out of the air, get it directly to paper and let it work, the moment when poetry existed off the page can be captured.