Scots Poem

This piece of creative writing was supplied by the Scottish Poetry Library who receive Foundation funding from the Scottish Arts Council

Haiku in Scots siller i the sin snail’s stravaigins throuch the nicht bawdrons  skooks – deuklins soom in sweels … thair clockwork trams voar tirl – youthie leaves pruive thair vices in a seelent vennel a maw skirls swallaein the jeelin wund the cailleach an the burn …at thair ain slaw raik skreich o day – licht muives athort the boo o the aipple John McDonald From The Throu-Gaun Chiel: Scots Haiku (Cyberwit.net, 2008) Haiku supplied courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library

Note on the origins of the poem The inspiration for these haiku (for any haiku) is the world as we find it (or it finds us, if we're lucky enough) daily, moment by moment. Its magic, its surrealism; the miracle rising out of nothingness, bursting to utter, until, through some wandering poet a one-breath utterance escapes: AH!.....and a haiku is born.

About the Poet       John McDonald is a retired stonemason who came to haiku in the mid-nineties and fell in love with the genre. After a number of years and awards from: British Haiku Society, Haiku Ireland, and the Suruga Baika literary award (Japan) he moved back to the language of his previous poetry, Scots and in 2006 created a bilingual blog http://zenspeug.blogspot.com which he endeavours to update daily.