Monday, September 25, 2006

A Guid Scots Tung in the Shore Poets Heid

A braw readin yestreen at Shore Poets, wi a fair bit Scots an aw. The readers wis Mandy Maxwell, Christine De Luca an Jackie Kay; the music cam fae thae bonnie sangsters the Linties.
It wis nae surprise that Mandy had ae-twae poems in Glesgwegian an less surprise that Christine read a hantle poems in Shetlandic, but I was cantily surprised at the nummer o poems Jackie read that yaised some degree o Scots. The Linties an aw gied us a guid mixter o bawdy, bonnie an blythe sangs wi differnin degrees o Scots.
Christine aye tellt us gin she wis gaunnae read wark in Shetlandic and wid gloss a wheen words but, forby yon, nane o the performers said ocht tae tent us til their Scots; it wis juist there or it wisnae. That isnae aye the case; I mind o Don Paterson yince speirin o the audience "Can I read a poem in Scots?" and sayin, "Only in Scotland would you have to ask that," but mibbe that's mair tae dae wi him nor the fowk that wis there.
Onywey, it wis refreshin tae feel there wisnae ony spoor o the kenspeckle Scots cringe.

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