Seil Chat

This being National Poetry Day
Perhaps try reading Jackie Kay,
S. Armitage, perhaps, or Milton,
(whose Satan many tropes were built on),
Billy Collins, Wendy Cope,
Sorley MacLean, A.D. Hope,
There’s Kathleen Jamie, Cecil Day
Lewis, Dunbar or John Gay.
Burns, of course, Bob Dylan, too,
And the Howe sisters: Fanny, Sue.
There’s Hugh MacDiarmid and John Donne
And good old Robert Henryson.

There’s Neruda and Södergran,
Walt Whitman, Denis Glover,
Plath and Hughes and Berryman
Sam Coleridge, Ivor Cutler,
B. Zephaniah, Arthur Clough,
(by now you’ve probably had enough)
But Dylan Thomas, Rupert Brooke,
And many more are worth a look,
Remembering, finest of them all,
William Topaz McGonagall.

Nice one Peter! But where are all our names? Just pulling your leg!

I didn't even realise it was National Poetry Day. I want to write something new now. I fear the only thing thing I may manage, will be some sort of unreadable drunken ramble by the time I get home tonight

Some have called Mc.Gonagall a poet
but anyone whose seen his crap would surely never know it.
most doesnt rhyme the rest doesnt scan
why does any one praise this miserable man.

surely like Burns one day we will see
a return to that which resembles --poetry
so to Keats and Shelley well be returning
give up the rubbish go back to learning.

Write more or less what eer you like
But read Mc Gonagall:on yer bike

teddy

.
I have to confess to a certain fondness for William Topaz McGonagall - who else would boast a semi-precious stone as a middle name. Nearly five years ago now when my mother was still alive the hall committee in the wee hamlet of Abriachan near Inverness decided to have a McGonagall supper at the end of end of January instead of the customary tribute to Burns. Speakers were invited to present a poem in the style of McGonagall, and this was my effort:

Abriachan (in the style of William Topaz McGonagall)

TO the rustic community of Abriachan
Myself and my wife repair whenever we can
From our home in the west near the town known as Oban
(Which means small bay as I am sure you know)
And so today was one of those days when we did go
Across the land of Scotland from coast to coast
(Well, not quite, but almost)
To visit the good folks of Abriachan in this their humble hall
And eat their food and speak and drink with all.

Although normally at this time the bard of Ayrshire would have his works read
While eating sheep’s lights and breaking bread
The Abriachan folk have decided this year instead
(Good folk one and all, to a man well bred)
To celebrate the famous Bard of Dundee
McGonagall – for indeed it is he
The man who immortalised the Tay Bridge Disaster
And of epic poetry there is no doubt was the master
(A statue has been erected, and not in plaster)
And so good folk of Abriachan I say to you
For doing this thing there is no doubt it is true
You will be remembered by more than this rhyme
For several hundred years, which is a very long time.

Although McGonagall, that trusty Wight
Along Loch Ness once did travel so bright
And composed an ode to that water so deep and right
Sadly he did not attain this great height
Of Abriachan, community of crofters and commuters to Inverness
Where the wheelie bins prevent any untidy mess
But the people of Abriachan think of him no less
And only say to him on this day that is not his birthday
That they wish him joy although he did not come up that brae
From Loch Ness to visit us that day
We know that if he had
William Topaz McGonagall would have been exceedingly glad.

Excellent.

good one

teddy

Local Enterprise.


High upon a rugged mountain
There the thoughtful haggis sat
Wearing of the tam o shanter
(to outsiders chequered hat)

One leg longer than the other
Thats a myth that still prevails
Up there on a scottish hillside
Sadly now extinct in Wales

Along came a coach full of visiting tourists
Cameras out,but before they could snap
He had vanished round the mountain
What a speedy little chap


The T&T now filled with tourists
Still I suppose we mustnt moan
For its only to the local few
The very likes of me and you
That the Haggis(on Wheels) is known

Teddy

Hi Teddy and Admin, just noticed two more new ones on the end of this post! Brilliant