Publisher's Synopsis
This is a 2019 reprint published by his surviving family and intended to be as close to the original as possible.
It contains work from his two main collections Intimate Voices (Poetry 1965-83) and access to the silence (Poems 1984-2004); also poems from Being a Human Being (2006) and work not in previous books including an elegaic sequence for his mother, a prose memoir of his father, a poem-suite "on the page" and a tri-part envoi to the collection.
CONTENTS
Pollok Poster 1 13
Six Glasgow Poems 14
The Voyeur 20
Dripping with Nostalgia 21
Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae 22
don't tell wordsworth 23
Four of the Belt 24
The Psycopath 25
The Appetite 26
Storm Damage 27
A Priest Came on at Merkland Street 28
an oxford dictionary 36
Poetry 37
Jist ti Let Yi No 38
Tea Time 39
Paroakial 40
A Summer's Day still life with creative writing teacher 41
Yon Night 43
Feed ma Lamz 44
The Qualification 45
The Dropout 46
Fireworks 47
Makars Society 48
Crack 49
Pfff 50
Moral Philosophy 51
My Parents' Living Room at Christmas 53
Fathers and Sons 54
Placenta 55
The Rainbow Of 56
breathe deep and regular with it 61
Rosebud 62
100 Differences between Poetry and Prose 63
The Evidence 64
Proem 65
who wants to be free 66
your eyes 67
An Ageing Writer 68
The Performance 69
epitaph 75
in the beginning was the word 76
from Unrelated Incidents 77
ma lungz iz fuckt 83
humpty dumpty 84
mehta physics 85
would thi prisoner 86
baa baa black sheep 87
commemorative stamp 88
yonza big wank 89
efturryd geenuz iz speel 90
right inuff 91
An Old Story 92
colorado mountain air 93
Honest 94
so whut day yi day wi yirsell then ih 98
yi surta 99
seen im? 100
Opting for early retirement 101
firmly 102
Skills 103
The underfunder's utopia 104
doon the close 105
Myths in These Parts106respite in the reading 107
the enemy without 108
a handy news standfor the next bombing 109
The Present Tense 110
ablative absolute 123
situations theoretical and contemporary 124
the press as bogus phatic communion 128
Blessed Trinity 132
leaning forward 133
1st Poster Poem against the criminal injustice bill 134
4 football haiku 135
a could eata hoarss 136
rest assured 137
glorious weather in a teacup 138
ahma hoarss 139
the mainstream a clerisy 140
nora's place: a Poem in 17 aspects 141
A night at the pictures 160
triptych: the ongoing memorial 163
to have access to the silence 170
in hospital 171
suite: On the Page 172
the case for lower case 178
the pact 180
June the Second 181
touching your face 182
kierkegaard 183
Remembrance Day 184
who want my smile 186
The Fair Cop 187
Wish you were Here 191
getting on with it 194
foodfor thought 195
plasma nights 196
The Proxy Badge of Victimhood 198
Litany: Blair's Britain 201
Epithalamium 203
Being a Human Being 204
An Ayrshire Mother 205
that each one be the subject 210
odysseus 212
A humanist 213
a life 214
