Thursday 18 August 2011

Eddiversary







It's the 1st anniversary of Scots Makar (Scots poet laureate) Edwin Morgan's death this week. If you don't know his work then I definitely recommend you check it out. You can read and listen to some here: 
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1682


I interviewed Eddie in 2009, he was a lovely guy who is greatly missed by many. The Scottish Poetry Library has a small note on their blog, here: http://scottishpoetrylibrary.wordpress.com/

This is a poem (also published in an Edwin Morgan tribute anthology by SwissLoungeProductions) I'd written before Eddie died but that, to me, seems resonant now:



About Edwin Morgan



I believe too much that your white hair was once black,
that your ears are failing, that your oceanic eyes sit back,
loosely waving in your wheelchair. I thought you had a knack
for immortality, that your Whittrick never abandoned ship. In the snack
bar you revealed a dismal hump, a tented animal, long-blind, hunch-back,
half-paralysed and we were ready for that. But Eddie, how can we let the crack
of heaven wash the dishes? How can we hear Nessie’s song, save the white rhino, track
those distant, careful worlds? How can we light the cigarette without the fire of your lips? 




GO READ SOME OF HIS POETRY

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Captain Cliche at Captain's Bar



Arrrr, yo ho ho and...blergh. That's enough pirate noise. Shut up.

Well it's that time of year again, the time I seclude myself from society even further, sit in the darkness and vomit into my hands, laughing like a traffic cone. It's the Edinburgh Festival.

But for one night only I'll leave my hovel and scrape my way to Captain's Bar to deliver some words to the unwitting public.

It's free!
Doors open at 7, the evening starts at 7:30 and ends by 8:30
It's free to get in
Captain's Bar, South College St.  EH8 9AA
Did I mention it's free?
http://captainsedinburgh.webs.com/festivalhaversblethers.htm



Russell Jones