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Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 11h

We fecht to lowse oursels, we coup and skar
and joater menseless in the foazie grun,
feart to bide still, and fusionless to rin,
we plouter on, forfeuchan, through the haar…

—Robert Garioch, “The Bog”
in A KIST O SKINKLAN THINGS (ASL, 2017)
#Scotstober #poem #poetry
asls.org.uk/publications...

Robert Garioch
The Bog

The lyft is lourd abuin the hechs and howes,
peat-bog and mist hae left nae space atween;
the puddock cours doun frae the wecht abuin,
here is nae leevin-space for men or yowes.

We fecht to lowse oursels, we coup and skar
and joater menseless in the foazie grun,
feart to bide still, and fusionless to rin,
we plouter on, forfeuchan, through the haar.

We rax doun, seeking rock, wi feet grown nesh
frae clatchin in thae never-ending clarts,
ettlin to traipse on stanes, to thole their scarts,
and win to some green haugh, kind to the flesh.

Tho weill we ken it's aye the same auld place,
we fuil oursels to pech and plouter on
frae this black oily puddle-hole to thon,
that gies the meisor of our hirple-pace.

Our thochts are aye on skinklan burns, dour rocks,
clean waters we cuid loup frae stane to stane,
bricht in the sun or weet wi dounricht rain,
dazzlit wi licht and stoun'd by solid shocks.

But maist we think of gangin ither airts,
whaur we micht hae faur distances in sicht,
think lang to traivel til a warld of bricht
pure colour in outlandish foreign pairts.

Sae we jalouse some howff juist owre the brae,
some hevin abuin the sterns, juist out of sicht,
whaur we cuid gae the morn, gin we micht
loup owre the muin, as did the famous quey.

Wanting some yirdlie hevin for Almains,
the Fuhrer maks a furore in our lugs;
we bield in ivory touers or Luftwaffe-skugs,
while bummlan boomers threaten broken banes.

Thae men that fetch us boombs frae yont the seas,
heich in their Heinkels, ken the same despair;
they maun skite flat-out on the slidder air,
forever doomed, like us, to future ease.

Nou the impassioned banshees, in F-moll,
screich out wi siren voices, anger-riven,
Beethoven's chord of Opus 57,
the same that skeiched us in the Usher Hall.

The causey street we staund on shaks and shogs,
freestane fore-storey housses flee in air;
real super-realism everywhere
maks grand pianos mate wi clarty bogs.

The bog—I ken the feel o't weill eneuch,
tak its conditions, staund and dinnae fecht
to lowse my feet, and find it tholes my wecht
ablow the haar, gin but my heid be leugh.

And here are colours braw as onie shroud:
broun and dark broun, black and mair black, an aa
the fud or hint-end of the watergaw,
whaur I hae fand my forpit-met of gowd.

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Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 15h

Its day therteen o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: plooter

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

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Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 1d

Its day twal o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: patch

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

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Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 2d

“We’re on a mission to revolutionize your underarm health. At Oxters we take a different approach to the wellness and performance of your underarms. We sweat the details so you don’t have to – giving you a new weapon in your fight against body odor”
#Scotstober
www.oxters.co

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Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 2d

Its day eleiven o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: oxter

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

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Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 3d

Its day ten o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: swick

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

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Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 4d

"Traachle" is the new-united-Scots wey o spellin it

NE uised tae be happy eneuch fir hunners o years wi the "au" spellin in wirds lik haun trachle haur etc, tae "reformers cam in tae try an "fix" it

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Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 4d

Daith an’ dule will stab ye surely,
Be ye man or wife,
Mony trauchles an’ mischances
In ilk weird are rife;
Bide the storm ye canna hinder,
Mindin’ through the strife,
Hoo the luntin’ lowe o’ beauty
Lichts the grey o’ life.

—Helen Cruickshank, “Sea Buckthorn”
#Scotstober
asls.org.uk/publications...

Sea Buckthorn
by Helen Cruickshank

Saut an’ cruel winds tae shear it,
Nichts o’ haar an’ rain –
Ye micht think the sallow buckthorn
Ne’er a hairst could hain;
But amang the sea-bleached branches
Ashen-grey as pain,
Thornset orange berries cluster
Flamin’, beauty-fain.

Daith an’ dule will stab ye surely,
Be ye man or wife,
Mony trauchles an’ mischances
In ilk weird are rife;
Bide the storm ye canna hinder,
Mindin’ through the strife,
Hoo the luntin’ lowe o’ beauty
Lichts the grey o’ life.

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Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 4d

Its day nine o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: trauchle

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

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Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 5d

Its day echt o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: doo

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

1 2 4

Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 5d

And by the halie tree
In the leaman licht o the wuid,
Squired by a houlet, a hawk and a doo,
Wes his Euridikee…

—“Orpheus”, by Tom Scott (1918–1995)
from A KIST O SKINKLAN THINGS
#Scotstober #poem #poetry
asls.org.uk/publications...

Tom Scott
Orpheus

Ye think thon wes the end?
Yon meetin in the wuids
When Thracian Orpheus heard the drum, the cries,
The whud o the bacchantes’ thrangan feet
And, seik in saul,
Mad to be jyned for aye to his Eurydikee,
Strung his harp
And gaed to meet them wi a sang.
Ye think thon wes the end?

Na. Eftir the thrang breeled on, red
Fingert, bluidie-mawed, the riven limbs
Quiveran aye amang the mairtyred gress,
There wes a lull
And throu it syne a roun
And syne as muckle’s a moan
And syne a voice,
Yon voice o his
That quietit the forest and its fowk,
That reconcilit lion and lamb,
Ordert the rain,
Spoke frae the grund
And threept in the greitan tree
‘Euridikee! Euridikee!’

And at the name
A ferlie thing wes duin.
Thir broken bits o bodie, bits o bane,
Brisket, gash, airm and droukit hair
Cam thegither as gin some will
Mair nor the merely real
Had wrocht on them.
And on yon slauchtert grund was formed
Orpheus anew,
Orpheus the singer, Orpheus the makar,
Orpheus cleansed o the auld despair.
And by the halie tree
In the leaman licht o the wuid,
Squired by a houlet, a hawk and a doo,
Wes his Euridikee.

They say he made a new sang,
A nobler nor the auld,
And sings it aye in the great haa o the warld.

They say it will nevir end.

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Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 5d

…in ma dreams, ma dou,
I’m staunin here upricht, wi’ you
the lang sheld that I grue ahind.

—Don Paterson, “The Human Sheld”
published in RAIN (Faber, 2010)
#Scotstober #poem #poetry
www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...

The Human Sheld
by Don Paterson

The reason, gin ye waant the truth,
I sleep like this – ma gairdie stieve
upon yer breist, its steekit nieve
laid on yer sma’ hert like an aith –

is no’ for waarmth or peace o’ mind
but that in ma dreams, ma dou,
I’m staunin here upricht, wi’ you
the lang sheld that I grue ahind.

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Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 5d

Its day echt o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: doo

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

1 2 4

Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 6d

Its day seiven o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: kinnen

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

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Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 6d

Noo Maunsie’s wis as guid a tongue
As ever psalm o’ Dauvid sung.
It fittit weel a godly mooth,
And said few wirds ’at wirna truth,
An’ never swöre by Guid or Deil
Excep’ whan kyunnens ate his kail…

—from “Auld Maunsie’s Crü”, by Shetland poet Basil Ramsay Anderson (1861–1888)
#Scotstober #poem

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Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 6d

Its day seiven o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: kinnen

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

2 2

Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 7d

Love is all you need: Remembering The Kingis Quair

Alan Riach discusses The Kingis Quair – a poem attributed to King James I of Scots (1394–1437), & described by C.S. Lewis as “the first modern book of love”
#Scotstober #medievalsky #poetry
www.thenational.scot/news/1737200...

6 10

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 7d

Its day sax o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: quair

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

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Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 8d

Its day five o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: peedie

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

4 4

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 8d

Its day five o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: peedie

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

4 4

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 9d

Its day fower o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: dwang

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

3 3

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 10d

Its day three o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: dewar

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

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Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · 11d

Its day twa o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: footer

Dr Michael Dempster @drmdempster.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨Annooncement!🚨

Here yer #Scotstober 2025 wirds!

A'm sharin on aw platforms, but maistly follaein on BlueSky this year.

A'm luikin forret tae yer warks 😁

Wirds as text ablow

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Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 11d

“I’ll nae longer tolerate this climate of wholesale copulation, it’s costin me a fortune! And I’m tellin yow I’ll no huv ye footerin wi ma chauffeur…”

—from “Mr Puntila & his Man Matti” (1999) by Peter Arnott, translated from Bertolt Brecht
#Scotstober #drama
asls.org.uk/publications...

PUNTILA (Yells) Get them oot! (To EVA) I’m absent fer hauf an hour and the hale place gangs tae buggery. Aye, weel dae yow ken how come the cuddies are in ma claver? Cos the stableman’s shaggin the gairden quean, that’s how come. And how’s thon fourteen-month hutheron got baggit afore her time? Cos the lassie’s joab it is tae mind ma cattle is mixin her moggans wi the prentice boy, which disnae gie her leesure tae ensure ma prize bull isnae lowpin oan ma hiefers and committin random fornication wi onythin oan four legs, that’s how. Mind me tae huv a word wi the wee gairden quean, gin she’d kindly abstain from lowsin her scanties for five minutes, mebbe we’ll huv some tomatoes this year. There’s money in tomatoes, and I’ll nae longer tolerate this climate of wholesale copulation, it’s costin me a fortune! And I’m tellin yow I’ll no huv ye footerin wi ma chauffeur, cos the place is gone tae hell and there’s a leemit tae ma forebearance!

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Reposted by Dr Michael Dempster

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 11d

“Like a taste in the mouth the memory of them, those countless long since Sunday tea-times, with Mrs Cuffee futtering about getting the table laid and ‘Children’s Hour’ on…”

—Alan Sharp, A GREEN TREE IN GEDDE (1965)
(A new edition of which is coming very soon …)
#Scotstober

As she went in the sound of her father’s voice, raised to make a point in some discussion and she could hear Robert Eldman saying ‘yes, I’m sure that’s so’, and the rattle of crockery. Sunday evening tea. Like a taste in the mouth the memory of them, those countless long since Sunday tea-times, with Mrs Cuffee futtering about getting the table laid and ‘Children’s Hour’ on, always something about saints or explorers who were Christians and competitions she never entered and Uncle Mac saying ‘good night children, everywhere’, and it was always cheese for tea or cold meat with halved tomatoes and Cuffee would be upstairs and she would half help her mother and half listen to the wireless and Mr Cuffee would be in the garden smoking a pipe and listening to the evening birdsong.

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