Poem of the month - November 2007

from The Flora and Fauna of an Independent Scotland Dunnock Aye, aye. Aw right. But at least Ah’m no’ a speug – scruffy wee nyaffs. Great Auk Whae’s like us – Damned few, an’ we’re aw deid. Hooded Crow Corbies, ya bass! Raptors is thick as mince. Wren Ah’m mebbe wee, But Ah’m GEMM. Starling Me an’ ma pals wis luikin’ fur the perty. Aye, we ken Shug an’ Senga an’ Jimmy an’ Senga an’ Wullie an’ Senga an’ – aww, cheers, Agnes. Black-Browed Albatross Am Ah winchin’? Naw. Ah’m still waitin’ fur ma ain strappin’ jo. Great Skua Independence? Whit’s that at aw? Eh? Hey, goanny gie’s a bit o’ yir haddie-supper, pal? (Aye. An Ah WILL batter ye if ye doan’t.) Douglas Lipton Poem supplied courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library

About the poet and his inspiration: Douglas says: 'The poem sequence which became "The Flora and Fauna of an Independent Scotland" began life while I was walking on Hoy with my wife. I just began to hear the little frustrated and impertinent voices of the inhabitants of our natural world and could only imagine them as circumscribed by our history and heritage. They niggled for attention and they got it. I had most of the poem composed aurally by the time we got back, later in the day, to our dank caravan above Stromness. Subsequently, I've learned to carry with me at least a pen - and preferably also a notebook - wherever I go. I was born and educated in Glasgow, but have lived and worked in the south of Scotland since the late 1970s. I am married with two teenage children. I began writing poetry in my teens and attended Glasgow University's Creative Writing Classes (led by Philip Hobsbaum) while still at school. My collection "The Stone Sleeping-Bag" was published by Mariscat. Several chapbooks have since appeared through Markings. I write mostly in English with a Scots accent. "The Stone Sleeping-Bag" contains the full "Flora & Fauna" sequence. It also contains the libretto for "Songs for the Falling Angel - a requiem for Lockerbie", which was a Scottish Arts Council /STV/Edinburgh International Festival commissioned collaborative project (1991) with Keith McIntyre (artist) and Karen Wimhurst (composer).'