Potty About Poetry - Isn't It Time We Had A Word?

Glasgow Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown has lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament commemorating the life of Scotland’s National Poet, Edwin Morgan, who was brought up in Rutherglen.
Morgan was one of Scotland’s most famous and influential poets, and Glasgow’s first Poet Laureate. He was known for his varied style, particularly for his love poetry, poetry translations, and work as a playwright.
He was born in the west end of Glasgow but moved to Rutherglen as a small child and was educated at Rutherglen Academy. His first work was published in …

The Edinburgh Book Festival closed with a moving tribute to Scotland’s first national poet, Edwin Morgan who died last week.
Richard Holloway chaired the final event in Charlotte Square Gardens which featured readings and personal tributes from 14 of Scotland’s top poets including Douglas Dunn, Janice Galloway, Hamish Whyte, Liz Lochhead and Jackie Kay.
The 2010 Festival has featured over 750 participants from 50 countries including Nobel Laureates Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and Seamus Heaney, Poets Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Keorapetse ‘Willie’ Kgositsile from South Africa as well as 10 of …

Sometimes, I listen in on some slam poetry and hear only a fizzing desperation, panic, and a smug knowledge sitting behind prepared lyricism. In much the same way, I can watch a rap battle which is filled with bravado and a brazen machismo that is protected only by days of seething and scheming. It gets depressing, watching these performance pieces, as I feel that specific emotions are lost without context, and what was prepared as an introspective work is delivered as a vicious monologue. It’s like listening to a badly …

The Black Isle Words Festival in Scotland is to mark its 10th year.
The theme for the event, held in Cromarty from September 10-12, will be Where the Wild Things Are.
Speakers include naturalist Sir John Lister-Kaye, writer Linda Cracknell and children’s book writer and illustrator Mairi Hedderwick.
Dr Fiona Thompson will talk about the late Scottish writer Jane Duncan whose fiction included stories set in the Highlands.
The Renton-born author made publishing history in 1959 when Macmillan accepted seven of her novels.
Cheshire-based micro publisher Millrace has reprinted her first novel My Friends the …

A beer brewed to celebrate the life and works of First World War poet Wilfred Owen has helped raise £460 for the church where he served as a lay assistant.
Loddon Brewery in Dunsden brewed Wilfred’s Mild as its May monthly special and donated 10p from every pint sold towards the upkeep of the 19th century All Saints’ Church in the village.
Owen was an assistant to the vicar of the church from 1911 to 1913, shortly before he went to war. His parents and sister are buried in the churchyard.
Luke Hearn, …

Neighbours of the great-nephew of Welsh poet WH Davies have launched a campaign to save his last home.
The author of the poem Leisure lived in Glendower, an 18th Century cottage in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire.
Owner Norman Phillips, 77, is facing a five-figure sum for essential repairs and hasn’t been able to live in the property for the last seven years.
Villagers have arranged a series of events in September to mark the 70th anniversary of Davies’s death.
Born in the Pill district of Newport in 1871, William Henry Davies was a teenager shoplifter who …

After the death of the great Edwin Morgan, who will be the next Scots makar?
The appointment of the next national poet of Scotland will be, according to a Scottish government spokeswoman, “considered in due course”, but she remained silent on how, when and by whom.
Most of the likely candidates were in fact reading at the Edinburgh international book festival’s tribute event to Morgan on Monday: among them Liz Lochhead, Douglas Dunn, Kathleen Jamie, Robert Crawford, Don Paterson and Jackie Kay, pictured.
“I quite like the idea of Kay, not least for …

Agony Aunt Rowan Pelling has some strong warnings about poets as lovers.
Writing on Mail Online, she tells a reader whose partner is not given to expressions of emotion, of her experiences with a seductive poet.
“Because saying ‘I love you’ is probably the cheapest and most effective aphrodisiac in the book (particularly true for women, who relish the emotional security). But let’s get one thing straight: you cannot measure love in fine words alone.
“If you could, poets and pop stars would make the most reliable lovers around, instead of the slickest …