Comin Back Ower the Border

13/08/09

Comin Back Ower the Border by Mary McCabe

Mary McCabe, a PEN member, has published Everwinding Times (novel), Streets Schemes and Stages (book on cultural projects), Die zauberhafte Reise(children's storybook in translation) and has had radio plays broadcast in Germany and Switzerland, stories, poems and articles in Scots, English and Gaelic. Through the Scottish Book Trust scheme she runs occasional writers' workshops.


Comin Back Ower the Border

Comin back ower the Border
The first ye ken ye’re hame
buildingsIt isna jist the biggins                                          
The brick gien wey tae stane

It’s nae the country roon aboot
rocks, cliffs, glensCraggies, cleughs an corries                               
thin earthStanes keeking through the shilpit yird                 
Less caurs an bikes an lorries.

It’s nae the pastels o the North
skyThe weather-gleam in the lift                  
sharp, roughThe snell gurlie teeth o the wind                         
lightrain, soggyThe smirr in the mochie drift.                

It’s “wee this” “see thon” “Och, gonnae”
straightThe “O” sae straucht an lang                             
The “R” rollin richly roon the braes
The speak on the rise o a sang.

 

Comin Back Ower the Border has appeared in the journal Lallans and in the American anthology Rotten English (ed. Dohra Ahmed pub. Norton). It was also Scottish Arts Council Scots Poem of the Month in February 2005.

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