To Live in an Independent Scotland

RIC

exchanging

the work of

making a state

for the task

of shaping

a community

§

power is shown

on the platform

but dealt

in the back room

§

Commission

an etching by Smith

after a vow by Brown

(after Brecht)

§

Brown has no Lordship

though his Vows accept one

(after Satie)

§

British Sign Language

how could a union

of pointy index fingers

and flapped elbows

ever last?

(In BSL Scotland is an extended elbow brought towards the body twice; England is a dominant index finger stroking a pointing index finger – the index finger represents the letter E)

§

messages

not flags

but food-bags

§

Torymandering

§

19.IX.14

Brownsbank

is lost

in low mist

Brownsbank, Hugh MacDiarmid and Valda Grieve’s home

§

the losing side

renewed their alliances

the winning side split

into warring factions

§

I am union

I am Gordon Brown

I am the son

of the manse

where the poor folk came

with their children

I am my two sons

I am the NHS

which is Bevan

and everything that is Britain

which I am saving

I am the blood and organs

which are safe in my hands

protecting them

and you know

I am football too

on Saturday afternoon

and I am

my friend Nelson

Mandela and Kofi

Annan

and when I was saving

the economy then

so I am now

making a vow

which the leaders are signing

I am saying Scotland

all of Britain

I am saving our union

I am saying

it will be almost modern

‘Home Rule’

and it must be

inside the union

I am promising a motion

the day after October

Burns Day before

March anyway

and what is happening

now  – and I know

and the vow

and the leaders

must know too

I am a petition

100,000 signatures

growing in my name

now I can do no more –

the rest is up

to Lord Kelvin

§

’45                                  (too Jacobite?)

45+                                 (too aged)

Yes                                 (too 2014?)

Yes Scotland                  (too ‘team’?)

Yes Alliance                  (too David Owen?)

Yes Union                      (too much irony?)

The MacCruslick’s        (too folkie?)

  

some of the proposed names for a renewed Scottish alliance of Yes parties; McCruslick – in his Tour Johnson is introduced to someone of this name on Raasay, a pseudonym used by men who had been out’ in the ’45.

§

Addenda to Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary

Briton : one who is cruel to strangers (after Horace)

satire : (late 20th / early 21st C.) an endorsement of the status quo masquerading as an attack on it; a reactionary joke

Scot : one who, lacking a nation anywhere, sees his own land everywhere

Scotland : a very learned nation without any trade, any trees, any money, or any elegance

yes : a hopeful affirmation; c.f. “hopeful, full of hope; full of expectation of success; this sense is now almost confined to Scotland…”, SJ, Dictionary

from Out of Books

§

GLASGOW KISS

          x

§

known for not

giving ATOSs

§

To Alex Salmond, Leader of the Scots

   for Lorna Waite

The salmon never turns from the current,

Swimming from dawn, on through the night.

ALEX, we have given you our YES. By right,

The tide of fate you meet, we complete.

praise poem, after the Scottish Latin poet Arthur Johnston, written in 2012.

§

Gestus

“Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron has invited key Tory figures to his country residence to discuss his plans for constitutional change.”

from Dee Heddon

PLEDGE: a promise not worth

the paper it is written on

   for NC, GB, EM, & DC

§

from Cecilia Vicuna

I could feel all the way from here

the way people were

being manipulated by fear

the spirit that rose from the people

will live forever in your heart

now a whole universe of perceptions

will open up for you

through the pain

you will be closer to all of us

who were there

it is a place beyond space

   and time

the ‘there’ she speaks of is Pinochet’s Chile

§

“I have never heard a Scottish person say something good of the English; I have never heard an English person say something bad of the Scots.”

provocation on social media from an eminent poet, resident in England

§

Spacehopper politics

Brown bounced Milliband

Cameron bounced Brown

Farage bounced Cameron

§

And the poor spoke with one voice

Charleston 70%             Yes

Happyhillock 75%         Yes

Dryburgh 70%                Yes

Kirkton 72%                   Yes

Fintry 72%                      Yes

Some of the deprived housing estates that voted overwhelmingly for independence

§

Devo Max’s a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw –

– For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.

He's the bafflement of Scottish voters, the Electorate's despair:

For when they reach the polling booth –

Devo Max’s not there!

You may seek him in the papers, you may look up on the airwaves

– But I tell you once and once again, Devo Max’s not there!

Devo Max , Devo Max, there's nothing like Devo Max,

He's broken every enquiry, he breaks the law of gravity.

His powers of manipulation would make a voter scare,

And when you reach the polling booth

Devo Max’s not there!

You may seek him in the papers, you may look up on the airwaves

– But I tell you once and once again, Devo Max’s not there!

Devo Max, Devo Max, there's no one like Devo Max

For he's a fiend in wolf’s clothing, a monster of deception.

You may meet him in a leaflet, you may see him on an advert –

But when the result’s discovered, then Devo Max’s not there!

With few apologies to T. S. Eliot

§

Scotland

a compass-point by weather

a satellite by media

a country by Westminster

a mandate by oil

a nation by resolution

§

Anglo-Scottish

Breakfast

cereal

§

a rare species, now threatened with extinction

Devo maximalis

§

after it was all over

and the old order

was secure

the Queen was heard

to purr purrr purrr

§

for Ed Milliband

I was told a story about the new Minister arriving at the kirk at Dunsyre in the 1950s. He was a keen gardener and one of the parishioners asked if he would like some manure. A horse and cart from Dunsrye Mains delivered a fresh load the next day. The following Sunday, as the flock left after the service, the Minister thanked Jimmy Barr, of Dunsyre Mains, for his kind gift. Jimmy replied” “Meenester, fir a sermon the like o’ the one you gave the day I would gladly hae’ given TWA carts o’ manure.”

§

as Gerry says

the thing that hurts the most

is being called a NATIONALIST

§

the First Minister

remains popular

with most Scots

so much so

that he is booed

by golfers

§

HIDDEN

FUTURE

seed

§

equality is balancing

different things

§

after WB

the rich are all romance

but without the beggar

there’s no myth

§

from shieling to shooting butt

a rise in class

a fall from grace

§

N A T I   N A L    M E M   R Y

§

Muir’s Law (for KILTR)

COMPULSORY RECREATION

after John Muir

§

A PATCHED SAIL

community

The St Kildans shared a single boat and each contributed a piece of cloth to the sail

§

after Broch

the rich have the poor

to do their work for them

conserving light, heating,

eating less, or nothing

§

The Third Horseman

I send ye these saws

Kneedeep i’ The Rotten Burn

up tae ma oxters in the Stinkin Lochie

Lost and Rotten

hae a’ been ill-begotten

Sourfold and Scrapehard

hae came tae Windyraw

Wha bit a beggar wad gang tae Poorhouse

Whit bit a Pyke wid swim i’ Drywells

You’ll gain yir fill at Dish Pot

e’en it is Green Swile

Frosty Nibs and Blackmiddens

are gaan to Reekimlane

 

Badchear and Mirydubs Burn

haste ye return

 

Bakebare and Peeled Egg

they’ll noo cam back ava!

fetch me tae Goryhill

lay me oot on Dead Wife’s Hillock

Semi-Ironic Coda

Playlands

Paradise

Maiden Paps

Naked Hill

Williehead Burn

Trembling Tree

after verses on place-names, from letters published in The Deeside Field (1924), contributed by a farm servant who used the pen-name ‘The Second Horseman’.

§

live as if you live in an independent Scotland

I joined the Green Party

I donated to Commonweal

I ended my TV license

I gave to a food bank

we sorted the recycling