In advance of the Neu! Reekie! / 3:AM evening of poetry, animation & drink (Friday 27th of May), poet & co-host Michael Pedersen has chosen five ‘sage and savant’ poems representative of the spirit of the Edinburgh night.
Norman MacCaig - After His Death – for Hugh MacDiarmid
… the government decreed that
on the anniversary of his birth
the people should observe
two minutes pandemonium.
Tom Buchan - Here we go on the roller-coaster
Here we go on the roller-coaster hold on
hold on tight the guy on the lever
has gone for a drink and woops
here we go down down faster and faster and even
more faster…
Robert Burns - Ode to Spring
There Damon lay, with Sylvia gay,
To love they thought no crime, Sir:
The wild-birds sang, the echoes rang,
While Damons arse beat time, Sir.
Edwin Morgan - One Cigarette
Let the smoke lie back in the dark.
Till I hear the very ash
sigh down among the flowers of brass
Ted Hughes - Lovesong
In their entwined sleep they exchanged arms and legs
In their dreams their brains took each other hostage
In the morning they wore each other’s face
First posted: Monday, May 23rd, 2011.
