abuin'r kist
a swan
risein




above her coffin
a swan
ascending

frae'r carebed
bairn's vices
...furder ilka day




from her sickbed
children's voices
...further each day

.

wull rose  -
bummer
pikes it i the ee




wild rose  -
bee
pokes it in the eye

.

daikerin
yer auld chaumer  -
fitein-oot the ghaists




decorating
your old room  -
whiteing-out the ghosts

treds week-end -
brickies
croonin




tradesmen's holidays -
bricklayers
singing

cuddie ferr -
huifbates raingin
spitten haunshaks




horse fair -
hoofbeats ringing
spitten handshakes

fush lowpin...
a haiku
slawly hovein




fish jumping...
a haiku
slowly surfacing

at the fuit
o a croonin buss -
bawdrons




at the foot
of a singing bush -
cat

tenor sax
booin's braith
aroon the blues




tenor sax
bending his breath
around the blues

dementia
tentie o the butterie
...skeerie lik




dementia
he watches the butterfly
...fearfully

snell wund -
gean flourish
eemitatin snaw




bitter wind -
cherry blossom
imitating snow

the puppie's
hert
o derkness




the poppy's
heart
of darkness

bleckie
fins a clint:
drum o snail's daith




blackbird
finds a rock:
drum of snail's death

licht throuch
the tuim gin bottle
his green neb




light through
the empty gin bottle
his green face

smusht egg -
yin sang less
i the daydaw owercome




smashed egg -
one song less
in the dawn chorus

voar ferr -
pipes seelent
weet paradeedles




spring fair -
bagpipes silent
rain paradiddles

skailt flourish
tore up
luve scrieves




scattered blossom
torn up
love letters

treens'
teeger strips
on the lammer burn




trees'
tiger stripes
on the amber stream

daffin
wi snail -
spleuterin fir'm




playing
with snail -
raining for him

furst communicants
swurlin
gean flourish




first communicants
swirling
cherry blossom

licht throuch
the kirk winnock -
her skire tae-nails




light through
the church window -
her coloured toe-nails

tirl...
the raing
o daffins




breeze...
the ring
of daffodils

i the sheddae
o swans:
Medusa heidit




in the shadow
of swans:
Medusa headed

ma bluid
fouin the hypo -
reid-rab at the winnock




my blood
filling the hypo -
a robin at the window

voar -
bleckie's baird
o strae




spring -
blackbird's beard
of straw

his ain
peerie stour -
tod amang the chookies




his own
little snowstorm -
fox among the chickens

quate-lik muin
corsin the burn
...doverin fush




stealthy moon
crossing the stream
...sleeping fish

seeven skire airches
striddlin:
wattergaw




seven coloured arches
striding:
rainbow

(after Andy Goldsworthy)

i the nicht lift
the semaphore
o sterns




in the night sky
the semaphore
of stars

in a stertle
o yalla -
daffins




in a startle
of yellow -
daffodils

bleckoot -
the caunle lowe's
radgie daunce




power failure -
the candle flame's
sexy dance

nakit treen -
a beamer
o green




naked trees -
a blush
of green

derk watters -
a furst fush lowps
frae the dramein drave




dark waters -
a first fish leaps
from the dreaming shoal

craw's tellin:
'maggies' -
neebourheid rype-pooches




crow's warning:
'magpies' -
neighbourhood pick-pockets

maws tulyie
fawin fedders
o snaw




gulls squabble
falling feathers
of snow

the eild o shauchlin -
sneckin frae the slae
a stieve nibbie




the age of shuffling -
cutting from the blackthorn
a sturdy stick

auld buits -
sonnet o a vaig
in ilk runkle




old boots -
tale of a journey
in each wrinkle

throuch the gless
a furst wesp
...gyte it ma finger




through the glass
a first wasp
...rages at my finger

hame
tae a reeng o bricht nebs:
pinkies




home
to a ring of bright faces:
primroses

weshin
at fou sail -
merch wund's bumfelt chowks




washing
at full sail -
march wind's puffed cheeks

granny's tuim hoose -
heicht-merks
scartit on the standart




grandmother's empty cottage -
height-marks
scratched on the door-post

voar watters -
the priest hidlinswise
daubs's rheums




spring waters -
the priest secretly
dabs his rheumatism

follaein
the coorse o the sin -
the auld dug pechs




following
the sun's course -
the old dog pants

frae lowe
an dashin atoms
...doverin i the boo o ma airm




from fire
and clashing atoms
...asleep in the crook of my arm

clabbydhus
on the leet:
thair seelant skirlin




mussels
on the menu:
their silent screaming

tentie o the sea
runklin the strand -
disjaskit




watching the sea
wrinkling the shore -
feeling my age

valentine's day -
the priest's
mis-airtit mail




valentine's day -
the priest's
mis-directed mail

agein faither -
cleidit
in crottles o fuid




ageing father -
dressed
in fragments of food

dreepin brainch -
a bead it a tyme
bleckie dichts hissel




dripping branch -
a bead at a time
blackbird washes himself

abuin the swaws
lown o a lane

maw




above the waves
calm of a solitary

gull

on gruein watters
swans' gentiness
...waarmin




on icy waters
swans' elegance
...warming

fouin the feeder -
stour
o speuggies' weengs




filling the feeder -
storm
of sparrows' wings


(Mainichi Daily News)

throu Mass -
the weet's turnt
tae snaw




during Mass -
the rain's turned
to snow

bowsie an brucken
oot wi the troke -
fernyear's dall




bent and broken
out with the trash -
last year's doll

droont i the brandy:
flee
oor furst-fit




drowned in the brandy:
fly
our first-foot

the bairn
bletherin tae me -
brawer nor wurds




the baby
chatting to me -
better than words

lichtin up space:
the super-nova
'HOGMANAY'!




lighting up space:
the super-nova
'HOGMANAY'!

a scrieve hame
desert stoor
slairit




a letter home
desert dust
smudging

pinchin
skwurrel's nits
...hameless an hungert




stealing
squirrel's nuts
...homeless and hungry

echain
throuch the cosmos:
brattles shentin us




echoing
through the cosmos:
gunfire shaming us

cailleach
gaitherin hally
beads o bluid




old lady
gathering holly
beads of blood

throuch a fite lanscape
the bleck burn
...ink o a wunter haiku




through a white landscape
the black stream
...ink of a winter haiku

furst Yule -
forenent the tree
her een chyngin colour




first Christmas -
in front of the tree
her eyes changing colour

wund amang the sprots -
the cailleach
tellin'r beads




wind among the reeds -
the old lady
telling her beads

festival's en -
a lane pipie stauns
sax inch frae the muin




festival's end -
a lone piper stands
six inches from the moon

causies skimmer i the weet -
the hallion's neb
dreeps intae's bucket




cobbles glitter in the rain -
the clown's face
drips into his pail

nicht soonds
fauldit inby
the auld saxyphone




night sounds
at rest inside
the old saxophone

weet bates
on the leaves
hairst rags




rain beats
on the leaves
autumn rags

bag-wifie
orrals o drames
powkin throuch




bag-lady
bits of dreams
poking through

stuckies
reestin
the day's blethers




starlings
roosting
the day's gossip

scuil hoalidays -
granfaither an me
pishin aneath the muin




school holidays -
grandfather and I
pissing beneath the moon

peat lowe -
we hunker, threy glowein nebs
goavin at a fowert




peat fire -
we sit, three glowing faces
gazing at a fourth

deid on the kirk steps
a maggie...
braw in's vestments




dead on the church steps
a magpie...
fine in his vestments

readin Issa...
hunkerin
in a sinblink




reading Issa...
sitting
in a sunbeam

hallowday -
fleggin the postie:
a left-ower bogle




All Saints' day -
frightening the postman:
a left-over ghost

throuch the maple wuid
the lang reid peth
o hairst




through the maple wood
the long red path
of autumn

potter's hauns
wrochtin the tuimness
o's blae joogs




potter's hands
shaping the emptiness
of his blue jugs

lichtin up the scullery:
the pumpkin
bydein a neb




lighting up the kitchen:
the pumpkin
awaiting a face

fleedit causey -
throuch's hoose
reid maple leaves fleit




flooded street -
through his house
red maple leaves float

frae the brig:
clud sets
wrocht o watter




from the bridge:
cloud shapes
made of water

furst freest -
i the sin tentie
o the auld tree souchin




first frost -
in the sun watching
the old tree breathe

thunner
lichtnin
leaves ruffin




thunder
lightning
leaves applauding

mornin wirds -
the monastery bawdrons
gants




morning prayers -
the monastery cat
yawns

aff tae weir -
laggin hait
in's mither's rosary




off to war -
lingering heat
in his mother's rosary

peerie spule
back an fore
gien o'ts sel: attercap




tiny shuttle
back and forth
giving of itself: spider

amang the puppies
a furst reid rab
...a jalouse




among the poppies
a frst robin
...I think

circus in toon -
the lowe-chower's laddie
fair intae's candy-floss




circus in town -
the fire-eater's son
enjoying his candy-floss

day-daw -
mornin glories
unfauldin




dawn -
morning glories
unfolding

newly come hame  - 
sheddaed in her een
a warl yit tae be neemit




new born  -
shadowed in her eyes
a world yet to be named

'Jazz Record Seek'  -
tooters o nasturtium
swey i the gairden




'Jazz Record Requests'  -
trumpets of nasturtium
sway in the garden

Daddy-long-legs i the wab
Gizzent:
Weengs, trams, bouk, yin flet streek




crane fly in the web
sucked dry:
wings, legs, body, one flat line

roses' 
sindert heids
...a braw wreath




roses'
severed heads
...a fine wreath

suddentlie
the soun o laneliness:
whaup on the muir




suddenly
the sound of loneliness:
curlew on the moor

muinless nicht -
i the derk watter
the mudge o sterns




moonless night  -
in the dark river
the movement of stars

curmurrin watter:
a makar takkin tent o
ilka day




murmuring river:
a poet listened to
every day

the aul gairdner
doverin
...wallant rose heids




the old gardener
dozing
...drooping rose heads

maternity dept:
veesitin oor
pink an blae balloons jundie




maternity dept:
visiting hour
pink and blue balloons jostle

babbie snail
reengin
fir'ts hame




baby snail
searching
for its home

the auld scuil  -
natur glunshes the playgrun
binweed pikes the sneck




the old school  -
nature gobbles the playground
bindweed picks the lock

graduation parawd  -
e'en the flooers
raxin thair craigs




graduation parade  -
even the flowers
craning their necks