Poets' Blog

What was I thinking about? Would I write a poem connected to one by Robert Burns? Yes, I said. Yes is a rather too frequent word in my vocabulary.

Can I wire a plug? Yes. Will I drive to Edinburgh in the middle of a freezing night to buy newly released copies of an obsessive interactive on-line computer game? Yes. How about juggling four imminent deadlines for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, a play, and blogging at the same time? No bother. Could I pop over to Russia to talk off-the-cuff about contemporary Scottish literature to an international academic symposium, oh, and would I throw in a talk on writing film? It’s a dawdle. Would I – well, you get my drift.

A poem though, one poem? What a gorgeous, uncluttered request. If I was ever forced to write in only one form, providing I recovered from the amputation of several creative limbs, it would be poetry. It’s the selfish one, the most indulgent, the form where I needn’t please anybody but myself – mainly because nobody will read it or care but, hey ho, it’s the greatest art form of all. It’s also the most disciplined, the hardest to do well, the most complex, the one that might speak to all humanity throughout time and across cultures, it’s the one that sings – a small spark packing the potential to explode a moment into a world, or a new way of seeing, and best written in a frenzy of creative mania. Maybe.

One poem is quite a challenge. But, as Keats said, and I paraphrase, poetry should come easily or not at all. Burns seemed like an omen. A few years ago I wrote a five part radio series on the Bard. A few months ago, three amazingly talented people consisting of a producer, director and actor asked if they could put that series on stage next year. All I had to do was adapt it. Yes (you guessed) I said. So, coming hard on the heels of that, the Scottish Poetry Library’s request for a poem derived from or inspired by one of Robert Burns’ was a rare moment of connection – fate or serendipity, call it what you will.

All I had to do was say, before writing, which of the Bard’s poems mine would connect to. If you haven’t read much of his work, there is a broad spectrum of interest to choose from. He can be moving, gentle, tender, inspiring, bawdy, humorous, political, fierce, caustic, cynical or spirited. His subjects range from lice to revolution. He exposes and celebrates. So what do I choose?

Scots Wha Hae.

Go figure.

What was I thinking of?