Scots poem of the month - September 2006

Biggin Comin owre the shouder o Lowther Hill Ah cam across an auld dry stane dyker Engrossed in the pursuance o his tred. Nane o yer Goldsworthy flichts o fancy; Plain, ordinary breid an butter work. Ah noddit, an sat doun tae hae a drink, He peyed me nae heed, didnae seem tae mind. Intent, his practised ee weighed up each stane Discardin yin, syne liftin anither Lost in some unconscious arbitration. Then purposefully placin it, in the Only place whaur it could possibly go. Tools tentlessly scattert, a paradox Agane the pristine order in his wake, Whilst chaos awaited his adroit hauns. Liftin up ma bike, ah waved, an moved oan. Then ah thocht hou sic-an-sae we baith wir; Strivin tae fin exactly the richt words, Discardin extraordinarily Tautological loquaciousness, Measurin each an ivverie sentence, Contemplatin ivverie syllable, Or wid a wee sma wurd fit juist the same? Lost in some unconscious arbitration. Then puposefully placin it, in the Only place whaur it could possibly go. The creation o order frae chaos. by Rab Wilson, from Accent o the Mind: Poems, chiefly in the Scots language (Luath Press, 2006) Poem supplied courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library

About the poet Rab Wilson was born in the Ayrshire village of New Cumnock on 1 September 1960. He attended school at New Cumnock and Cumnock. Rab has been writing poetry for most of his adult life and is beginning to be recognised by the Scottish literary establishment as an emerging new talent. His major work to date is his ‘owersettin’, in Scots, of the famous medieval Persian work The Ruba’iyat of Omar Khayyam. Professor Philip Hobsbaum (ex chair of English Literature, Glasgow University) has described this work as ‘an astonishing feat!’ It has also garnered praise from luminaries such as Edwin Morgan, Professor Douglas Gifford and Professor Wille Maley. This work has recently been published in book form by Luath Press of Edinburgh, and was launched at the Wigtown International Bookfair in May 2004. Wigtown Booktown Company, as part of their promotions for the bookfair, had a version of Rab’s Omar Khayyam made which is currently the biggest poetry book in the world, measuring 10ft X 4ft!!  His work has appeared regularly in some of the leading Scots poetry magazines (Lallans and The Dark Horse) and newspapers (The Herald’s ‘poem of the day’ column, Independent on Sunday). Extracts form a new work, ‘owersettins’ of the Roman poet Horace’s First Book of Satires, have been published recently by Scotlands leading cultural publication Chapman Magazine of Edinburgh. In 2003 he edited and produced a book of the late Sanquhar poet Tom Johnston’s collected works, which was very well received locally. Following on from the publication of this book Rab has initiated and run an annual poetry writing competition in local schools, The Tom Johnston Poetry Prize – and has also given poetry workshop classes to pupils. In 2005 he collaborated in Upper Nithsdale with a local charity, Building Healthy Communities, to produce a book of schoolchildren’s poetry entitled Poems tae Keep, encouraging local schollchildren to ‘embrace the muse’ and try their hand at writing poetry. This book proved to be a great success locally. Rab was one of the recipients of the McCash Poetry Prize in 2003 and 2004, Scotlands premier poetry competition, run annually by the Herald newspaper and Glasgow University. In 2005 he was chosen as part of the Scottish Poetry Library’s Poetry Link Scheme, being paired up with the MSP and Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson, and wrote three new poems, one of which was published in the Herald, the others being posted on the Scottish Poetry Library website. His new collection of poetry, Accent o the Mind, was launched in Spring 2006, again published by Luath Press of Edinburgh, at Scotland’s leading poetry festival StAnza, held at St Andrews, in March 2006. Rab lives in Sanquhar with his wife Margaret and daughter Rachel.

The inspiration behind the poem Rab says 'Biggin' wis runner-up in the McCash competition a year or sae syne. It's kindae based oan an amalgam o incidents an observations. Whaur ah bide, in Upper Nithsdale, the kintraside is littered wi dry-stane dykes, an they're aye an oan a constant visual an psychological inspiration tae me! They're the 'Nazca Lines' o Scotland! (tho ah dinnae think ye can see thaim frae space!!?). Onywey, the actual scene in the poem wis at Rog Wood's fairm 'Auchentaggart' (Rog writes the fairmin column in the Sunday Post, unner the nom de plume 'Tom Duncan'!) aroond the time when Rog hud blagged some big agricultural grant tae get his dykes repairt! Ah did witness the scene o the dyker's tools scattert roond him, the ruined wa in front o him, an the pristine wa ahint him - a brawer scene o scotia's agricultural past an present meldin the gaither ye couldnae imagine! (mibbes there's anither poem in this!!?) Onywey, tae oor tale! it wis anely later that the penny drapt an ah hud the idea o juxtaposin the buildin o dykes, wi aa kindae sizes o stanes, wi the 'biggin' o poems, wi aa kindae sizes o words! An addin the clincher at the hinnerend o the poem that we wir each engaged in the 'creation o order frae chaos' - tho aftimes ah'm happy tae admit some o ma poems are the 'creation o chaos frae order!' - a thing that warks fir poets, but ah guess widnae wark fir drystane dykers! Ah chynged the settin o the poem tae Lowther Hill - a mair spectacular panoramic scene aathegaither!'

If you have enjoyed this poem, you can borrow a range of poetry from the Scottish Poetry Library, who also lend by post. Telephone 0131 557 2876 or email reception@spl.org.uk. For an online catalogue, poetry events listings and more featured poems, please visit the Scottish Poetry Library website.