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: poem no. 352
st ninian’s isle
there’s a wind blowing in from the southlands
those dumpling clouds will bring rain tomorrow
but right now these hills are dry and the wild grass is golden
the ayre before me is glorious
gravel sparkling in the late summer sun
crunching this way and that as i make my crossing to st ninian’s
one lonesome seal sheltering in the bay follows my journey
a guardian angel watching over me like no other
such solitude is bliss and i am immortal
overhead the call of a curlew announces his flight
gliding toward the moorland to feed
whilst i navigate thrift on the bank
a wheatear watches as ancient kirk ruins appear over the brae
picts and norsemen long since departed
like the treasures once found under a tombstone
yet this isle
this old norse place
is priceless
Colin Rutherford
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.
Poetry Map of Scotland: poem no. 351
Barnhill, Jura
My backpack saws against my jacket
highlighting each stride,
198 4 miles signposted to Orwell’s haunt,
the distance doubled to my sore knees.
My friend offers scout leader patience
at my toddler concern
of ‘are we even halfway there yet?’
For her, this is a mere warmup
for tomorrow’s trek of all three Paps.
I’m not here just for the mountains,
the smack of island blue or long lost friends,
but to reconnect with my first self
who stepped blindly on her own path
and discovered those things had meaning.
Lunch among the thistles,
ferns and cow pies below the house,
blue seas and sailboats,
I relish each aching moment.
Back down The Long Road,
words on snapped tiles, embedded in mud
read like the poetry of sore feet
and bumbling boots.
Gerry Stewart
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.
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
View our full map of Scotland in Poems as it grows »
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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.