Modern Scottish Women Poets , livre ebook

Modern Scottish Women Poets
Edited and Introduced by
Dorothy McMillan and Michel Byrne

Edinburgh • London • New York • Melbourne

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
A Note on Gaelic Poetry


Oighrig (nì ’Illeasabaig) Dhòmhnallach/ Euphemia MacDonald (1842–1936)
‘Cumha do Iain Dòmhnallach’/‘Lament for John MacDonald’


Violet Jacob (1863–1946)
‘The Wild Geese’
‘The End o’t’
‘The Jaud’
‘Donald Maclane’


Jean Guthrie Smith (fl.1922)
‘Ayr’
‘The Soldier’s Wife’


Mary Symon (1863–1938)
‘A Recruit for the Gordons’


Marion Angus (1866–1946)
‘Mary’s Song’
‘At Candlemas’
‘The Fiddler’
‘Think Lang’
‘The Wild Lass’
‘The Can’el’
‘The Blue Jacket’


Margaret Armour (18?–1943)
‘The Airmen’
‘My Voysey Wall-Paper’


Nannie Katharin Wells (1875–?)
‘Scotland My Lover’
‘From the Altar-Squint’


Rachel Annand Taylor (1876–1960)
‘A Minor Tragedy’
‘To a "Georgian"’
‘The Kirkin’ Goon’


Catherine Carswell (1879–1946)
‘V’
‘VI’


Ciorstai NicLeòid/Christina MacLeod (1880–1954)
‘Litir chun a’ Bhàird’/‘A Letter to the Poet’
‘Dia’/‘God’
‘As-creideamh’/‘Non-belief’


Mary Elizabeth Boyle (1881–1974)
‘V’


Lady Margaret Sackville (1881–1963)
‘Flanders– 1915’
‘Foam and Earth’
‘Fame’
‘The Stranger’


Edith Anne Robertson (1883–1973)
‘The Scots Tongue’
‘The Granderie of God’
‘God’s Grandeur’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins
‘Inversnaid’
‘Inversnaid’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins
‘Til My Ain Hert’
‘My Own Heart’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins


Helen B (urness) Cruickshank (1886–1975)
‘Wild Geese’
‘In Glenskenno Woods’
‘Sea Buckthorn’
‘The Price o’ Johnny’


Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978)
‘A Skull’


Margaret Winefride Simpson (1888–1971)
‘Rhyme for Two’


Bessie J.B. MacArthur (1889–1983)
‘Eight Gaed Oot’
‘For a Modern Ophelia’
‘Wings’


Isobel Wylie Hutchison (1889–1982)
‘In Front of March’
‘In the Lane’


Maimie A. Richardson (fl. 1926–37)
‘And Yet’
‘Forgotten’


Willa Muir (1890–1970)
‘The Farmer’s Wee Lassie’


Wendy Wood (1892–1981)
‘Original Sin’


Nan (Anna) Shepherd (1893–1981)
‘Loch Avon’
‘The Hill’
‘Half Love’


Naomi Mitchison (1897–1999)
‘The House of the Hare’
‘Living in a Village’
‘Buachaille Etive Mor and Buachaille Etive Beag’
‘XIII. Work and Love’


Kate Y.A. Bone (1897–1991)
‘Skeletons of Honesty’


Margot Robert Adamson (1898–?)
‘At the Turn of the Year’
‘The Passing of the Wild Geese’


Alice V (andockum) Stuart (1899–1983)
‘Rencontre’
‘The Dark Tarn’
‘Sleeping Penelope’


Christine Grant Millar Orr (1899–1963)
‘The Loud-Speaker’


Flora Garry (1900–2000)
‘The Professor’s Wife’


Janetta I.W. Murray (fl. 1922–52)
‘Chinese Print’


Marion (Cleland) Lochhead (1902–85)
‘To a Minor Poet’
‘Painted Things’
‘The Choice’


Dorothy Margaret Paulin (1904–?)
‘The Cynic’
‘In Spring’


Dorothy Seward Walton (fl. 1934–52)
‘The Golden Thread’
‘Sisters’


Kathleen Raine (1908–2003)
‘The Locked Gates’
‘The Well’


Olive Fraser (1909–77)
‘On a Distant Prospect of Girton College’
‘The Unwanted Child’
‘Nobody will come’


Helen Adam (1909–92)
‘Kiltory’


Janet Caird (1913–92)
‘Ageing’
‘The Sisters’
‘At the Bus Stop’


Curstaidh NicDh’àidh/Christina Mackay (1914–2001)
‘Coinneamh nan Cearc mun Ghràn’/‘The Hens’ Convention on the Grain’


Carstìona Anna Stiùbhart/ Christina Ann Stewart (1914–83)
‘Eachdraidh na h-Iolaire/’Tht Story of the Iolaire’


Dorothy Dunbar (1915–
‘Arunculea’


Elma Mitchell (1919–2000)
‘Thoughts after Ruskin’
‘This Poem …’


Màiri Μ. NicGhill-eathain/Mary Μ. MacLean (1921–
‘Am Blàr-Cath’/‘The Battlefield’


Elise McKay (1922–
‘Arrested Development’
‘No Answer’


Kathrine Sorley Walker (fl. 1945–
‘Scottish Legacy’


Catrìona NicDhòmhnaill/Catherine MacDonald (1925–
‘Cum Sinn Dlùth’/‘Hold Us Close’
‘Trusgan na Fèin-Fhìreantachd’/‘The Apparel of Self-righteousness’


Anne Turner (1925–
‘Medusa’


Cairstìona Anna NicAoidh/Christina A. Mackay (1928–
‘An Druidheachd’/‘Enchantment’


Mairi NicDhòmhnaill/Mary MacDonald
‘An Teine Beò’/‘The Living Fire’
‘Crom-Lus Arrais’/‘Arras Poppy’


Margaret Gillies Brown (1929–
‘Scottish Woman’


Rhoda Bulter (1930–94)
‘A Letter ta da Minister’s Wife’


Alison Prince (1931–
‘Women and Poetry 1’
‘Women and Poetry 2’
‘Women and Poetry 3’


Anne Stevenson (1933–
‘With my Sons at Boarhills’


Lillias Scott Chisholm (Lillias Forbes) (fl. 1966–
‘Scotland’
‘La Grande Jatte’


Ellie McDonald (1937–
‘Flying Lessons’
‘On Not Writing Poetry’


Tessa Ransford (1938–
‘The Poet’s Daughters’
‘In the Royal Botanic Garden’
‘Blake’s Wife’


Jenni Daiches (1941–
‘Reading by a Window’
‘Carradale’


Jenny Robertson (1942–
‘Black Houses, Ardnamurchan’
‘Old Communist’


Sally Evans (1942–
‘Looking for Scotland’


Alison Fell (1944–
‘Border Raids’
‘Women in the Cold War’
‘Haiku, Moniack Mhor’


Anna Crowe (1945–
‘The Marriage-Lintels’
‘One Moment’s Mirror’


Joy Pitman (1945–
‘Ariadne to Theseus’


Sìne M. Cooper/Jean M. Cooper (1946–
‘Na Cuimhnich, Na Guil’/‘No Memories, No Tears’


Val Warner (1946–
‘Pie in the Sky’
‘Letters’


Veronica Forrest-Thomson (1947–75)
‘The Hyphen’
‘Sonnet’
‘I have a little hour-glass’
‘I have a little nut-tree’


Liz Lochhead (1947–
‘What The Pool Said, On Midsummer’s Day’
‘Dreaming Frankenstein’
‘Poem For My Sister’
‘Mirror’s Song’
‘Almost-Christmas at the Writers’ House’


Sheena Booth Blackhall (1947–
‘The Dominie’
‘Ophelia’
‘Persephone’


Christine De Luca (1947–
‘Wast wi da Valkyries’


Catrìona NicGumaraid/Catrìona Montgomery (1947–
‘Howff’
‘An Taigh Beag’/‘Playing at Houses’
‘Cearcall mun Ghealaich’/‘A Circle Round the Moon’
‘A’ Feitheamh ris a’ Phàp: a’ Chàisg, 1981’/‘Waiting for the Pope: Easter, 1981’


Valerie Gillies (1948–
‘The Negative’
‘Bass Rock’
‘The Night Before Battle’
‘Tipu and Archie’


Margaret Elphinstone (1948–
‘Potato Cuts’


Janet Paisley (1948–
‘Conjugate’
‘Mayday’
‘Jenny: Weavin the Spell’


Morelle Smith (1949–
‘Sauchiehall Street’


Catherine Lucy Czerkawska (1950–
‘The Other Side of the Story’
‘Old Man’


Mòrag NicGumaraid/Morag Montgomery (1950–
‘An-Raoir A-Rithist’/‘Last Night Again’
‘Muile-mhàgag’/‘A Toad’


Anne MacLeod (1951–
‘Standing by Thistles’
‘In the Kibble Palace: Sunday Morning’


Liz Niven (1952–
‘Stravaigin’
‘Webs not Roots’
‘Devorgilla in the Borderlands’


Marion Lomax (Robyn Bolam) (1953–
‘Kith’
‘Gruoch Considers’


Marcella Evaristi (1953–
‘Dogma Change’


Magi Gibson (1953–
‘Planting Crocuses with My Mother’


Helena Nelson (1953–
‘Cleaner’


Dilys Rose (1954–
‘No Name Woman’
‘Sister Sirens’
‘Saint Wilgefortis, Prague’


Gerrie Fellows (1954–
‘In His Own Country’
‘A Woman Absent from the Museum Muses on her Life in South Dunedin’


Valerie Thornton (1954–
‘Dark Side Of The Moon’
‘Kestrel, Conic Hill’


Carol Ann Duffy (1955–
‘Originally’
‘The Way My Mother Speaks’
‘Before You Were Mine’


Màiri NicGumaraid/Mary Montgomery (1955–
‘Sean Bhalaist’/‘Old Ballast’
‘Nach Goirtichinn A-Rithist’/‘Whom I Would Not Hurt Again’
‘Taigh Ùr na h-Alba’/‘Scotland’s New House’
‘Baile Ailein’/‘Balallan’


Elizabeth Burns (1957–
‘Valda’s Poem/Sleevenotes’
‘Mother and Child in the Botanic Gardens’


Deborah Randall (1957–
‘Danda with a Dead Fish’


Meg Bateman (1959–
‘Do Alastair MacIlleMhìcheil’/‘To Alexander Carmichael’
‘Leigeil Bhruadaran Dhìom’/‘Letting Go of Dreams’
‘Ugh Briste’/‘A Broken Egg’
‘Walzer’


Maud Sulter (1960–
‘Flight’


Jackie Kay (1961–
‘My Grandmother’s Houses’
‘The Red Graveyard’
‘The Shoes of Dead Comrades’
‘Lucozade’


Kathleen Jamie (1962–
‘Clearances’
‘For Paola’
‘Mother-May-I’
‘Fountain’
‘Ultrasound’
‘Bolus’
‘Meadowsweet’


Angela McSeveney (1964–
‘Clichés’
‘My Breasts…’
‘Crockery’
‘Windowbox’


Kate Clanchy (1965–
‘For a Wedding’
‘The Bridge Over the Border’


Alison Kermack (1965–
‘The Shadow Minister’
‘Time and Again’


Gillian K. Ferguson (1967–
‘Dear Norman’
‘Scan’
‘Everything is More’


Anna Frater (1967–
‘Màiri Iain Mhurch’ Chaluim’
‘Connadh’/‘Fuel’
‘Oidhche Reòite’/‘Frosty Night’


Tracey Herd (1968–
‘Paris in the Spring’
‘Ophelia’s Confession’


Eleanor Brown (1969–
‘The Lads’
‘Leda, no Swan’


Biographical and Bibliographical Notes
Permissions Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements
I want to thank the staff of the Scottish Poetry Library and particularly the librarian, Lizzie MacGregor, for assistance in finding details about the poets. The librarians of Level 5 of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, have been most helpful in repeatedly supplying me with material from the Scottish Poetry Collection; this is a wonderful resource without which I could not have put the anthology together. Karen McCrossan of Canongate has been a most patient, efficient and supportive editor.
Dorothy McMillan


Taing mhòr do na bàird a thug comhairle dhomh air eadar- theangachadh nan dàn, agus do na daoine a leanas airson an cuideachaidh: John Boa, Raghnall MacIlleDhuibh, Fr Donald Mackay, Marion Morrison agus Joina NicDhòmhnaill.
Michel Byrne
Introduction

Poetry was my first love in writing – i