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 no. 350
Grangemouth Refinery
A rainbow lands on Grangemouth Refinery,
in its far off haze
across the Firth of Forth;
white gaseous plumes
momentarily extinguished
within its cloak of many colours.
Such unlikely beauty
at the rainbow’s end.
At night
two flames burn from its distant shore,
reflecting on the water to make four.
Candles holding vigil
for the fragile beauty
that went before.
Such unlikely beauty
at the day’s end.
Edward Rogers
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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.
Poem Map of Scotland: poem no. 349
one evening on a peninsula
peat smoke forms by a silversmith
on a shoreline of scarlet
fading to a purpled horizon
blue hues envelop and harmonise
softly beyond the Sound of Sleat
looking over to the lighthouse
we will walk back along warm sand
holding shoes in our other hand
Neil Thomson
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.
Poem Map of Scotland: poem no. 348
Traversing The Horns Of Torridon
Given the gravity of the situation,
pausing before walking along
this ledge above a precipice
would have made sense.
Rest for a moment;
realise that, once started,
it’s already too late
to retrace steps.
Falling is more than possible
given our propensity
to become inattentive
when facing risk;
accept that one stumble
is one too many and task
feet to diligently follow
patterns just finished,
mask the consequences
of losing concentration;
one true step on the
one true path,
balancing threats
of disaster
with expectations
of success.
Another instant
and the next spent
straight as a die,
soon we’ll be smiling
at the view waiting
to charm us on
the farther side
of this chasm
between hope and regret,
overlooking how it felt
a lifetime was spent
holding your breath
along this barely-etched
contour line
before reaching
momentary calm.
“We shouldn’t be here,”
is the thought to avoid
while negotiating
emptiness.
For the present, continue
deliberate and slow,
one true moment
and the next.
Calmly marching
with the sky
above us.
And below.
Jeffrey Kemp
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.
Poem Map of Scotland: poem no. 347
This Summer
I'm going to walk with the Ramblers, traverse
footpaths inked onto Ordnance Survey maps
by unknown cartographers. From the terse
calligraphy of contour lines perhaps
I'll glean a sense of recognition, feel
that here, beneath my walking boots, at last,
this heather, peat and granite—all is real,
my future thus connected to the past.
I've planned four walks, and all to parts unknown
except for the last that ends in Dunbar
where I've been before, teenaged and alone,
and watched the night fishing fleet from afar,
bright lights strung from the masts—forming a great
constellation by which to navigate.
Su Brown
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.
Poem Map of Scotland: poem no. 346
When I Return
When I return
My fondness won’t fall short.
And though stiff joints and weakened calves will surely slow me,
Straps tenderising rounded shoulders and lungs fit to burst,
My resolve, I’ll will to remain.
And we’ll hug like old friends,
The red rhyolite; bone dry,
forgiving and welcoming,
But demanding my unsullied attention
in marshalling me northwards,
By buttress and crack line
companioning my revelation,
With firm footholds, familiar and long standing,
Our common trust re-joined.
And then rest,
Feet overhanging,
Appetite sated,
Parity restored.
Bobby Motherwell
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.
Poem Map of Scotland: poem no. 345
Writing about Tiree
Mining the landscape for words,
they’re piled for now above the tide
where, although they’re unlikely to get washed away
they are already drained of meaning.
This method doesen’t work.
It needs a painter
capturing in swift unbroken strokes
fine-stranded lady’s hair
ink washed, wet-on-wet,
and the bare bones of wreck, seeded in the sand
tossed there by Skerryvore..
And someone to properly explain
the stones with no beginning and no end
that come into their own
in the absence of distraction –
just the wash of surf and unimpeded light:
pink granite-banded gneiss,
a globe of sandstone smooth and fine-grained as an egg,
white marble flecked with green serpentinite;
each one fits cool and dense into a human palm.
Sue Bard
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.