match day
cadgers sellin flags -
sprittelt crocuses




match day
vendors selling flags -
multi-coloured crocuses

in 'The Gairdens'
muckle herts an kisses
in the snaw




in 'The Gardens'
giant hearts and kisses
in the snow

mither an bairn
dumpin snaw at ilk ither
...skirls




mother and child
kicking snow at each other
...squeals

muinlicht
ower the freestit perk
hoolet's dowie neb




moonlight
over the frosted field
owl's sad face

the postie -
the cauld
scrieve




the postman -
the cold
letter

jeelin
eeshogels an slidder
...a jowin bell




freezing
icicles and ice
...a chiming bell

lowpin oot o bed
ma erse scartit -
guidwife's tint rosary




leaping out of bed
my buttocks scratched -
wife's lost rosary

freesty mornin
swan beeries its heid
in the brawest swansdoon




frosty morning
swan buries its head
in the finest swansdown

on the freestit perk
a singul craw
hantinly bonnie




on the frosted field
a single crow
hauntingly beautiful

amang yaised condoms
an champt tinnies -
daffins




among used condoms
and crushed cans -
daffodils

mexican voar
a roon yalla leaf
trinnles alang the strand




mexican spring
a round yellow leaf
rolls along the shore

neb tae the chaumer wa
tentie o sheddae burds
sheddae brainches




face to the bedroom wall
she watches shadow birds
shadow branches

angert honkin
a fremmit deuk
ettles tae jyne the parrock




angry honking
a foreign duck
trys to join the group

ilka day
mair trok in the burn
new runkles on the scruif




every day
more rubbish in the stream
new wrinkles on the surface

the deef hoaspital's
fush-tank
thae fush...nae lugs




the hearing clinic's
aquarium
those fish...no ears

craw hoddles
alang the causey
licht sheenin frae's derkness




crow waddles
along the road
light shining from his darkness

in the pictur hoose
a bleck an fite bawdrons
blinters atween the cuits




in the cinema
a black and white cat
flickers between the ankles

makar's yirdin
pipie blaws a coronach
snawdraps' heids hing




poet's funeral
the piper blows a lament
snowdrops' heads hang

(for Hamish Henderson)

on the wund
drucken vices
the muin keeks oot




on the wind
drunken voices
the moon peeps out

snell wuntry days
cailleachs
wi fire-en-tartan legs




cold wintry days
old ladies
with fireside-tartan legs

(fireside-tartan: a blotched pattern
on the legs from sitting too close to the fire)