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Education » National
Poetry Day 2008 - Work › The poems
The Scottish Poetry Library has published eight poems
by Scottish poets as postcards and e-cards. Read them all here! You will
also find teaching ideas for the first four.
Poems on the theme of 'Work', by eight Scottish poets
The Check-Oot Quine's Lament
Tatties, neeps, and ingan,
Poother for the wash,
Wullie's needin new sheen,
Grip, skyte, flash.
Sweeties, ale, some flooer,
A tinnie wi a bash.
I'm wirkin like a robot,
Grip, skyte, flash.
Safties, glesses, bacon,
Eyntment for a rash,
Ma hoose is like a midden,
Grip, skyte, flash.
Mealie jimmies, ganzie,
Cheque, or caird, or cash,
Ma dowp is dottled sittin,
Grip, skyte, flash.
Aathin's in a hurry,
Fowk in sic a hash,
Customers anonymous,
Grip, skyte, flash.
A trolley like Ben Nevis!
Michty, fit a fash!
I'm scunnert and I'm foonert,
Grip, skyte, flash.
Noo ma shift is endin,
Beans and orange squash.
Hame tae dee the hoosewirk,
Up, oot, dash!
Eight Tentacles
If only I had an octopus
I'd soon get my housework done.
I'd set him to work on the hoovering
With tentacle numer one.
Tentacle two would grab a mop
And start on the kitchen floor
While he dusted and polished the furniture
With tentacles three and four.
Tentacle five would turn on the tap
And tackle the washing up
While tentacle six took a well-earned break
And curled round a china cup.
Tentacle seven would make the beds
And set all the pillows straight,
And all the time he'd be balancing
On tentacle number eight.
Lath Glan Seonaidh
An cuala sibh, an creideadh sibh
an cois gach dreuchd iongantach
g' eil fear tighinn beò ri cliathaich beinn
a ni a' chùis, gun deuchainn, orr'?
O èirigh grèin gun dùin i a sùil
bidh Seonaidh còir ri cuairteachadh
a' cunntais phupagan nam fiadh
gun fhios nach caill e an sgeul orra.
A Fine Johnny Day
Did you know, I tell no lie
of all the most surprising jobs
there's a fellow lives by mountain slopes
who tops them all without a prob.
From rise of sun 'til she shuts her eye
Johnny wanders up and down
counting poops there left by deer
lest one has fled, or perhaps been born.
Happy Families
Mr Pill the pharmacist
Mrs Bunn the baker
Master Leak the plumber's mate
B. Grave the undertaker.
Mr Blast, who in the past
once mended broken hooters
Mr Spider – web designer
Miss Take – in computers.
Ena Hurry makes strong curry
Old MacDonald farms
Mr Cue is in the theatre
Bill Ithole sells arms.
Master Void is unemployed
Reg Card – a referee
When I grow up, I worry what
my name suggests I'll be.
What kind of job might go with Robb?
I bet you think you know it.
But I'd rather rhyme than turn to crime
So perhaps I'll be a poet.
Field Days
Old Davie still did much farm work by hand.
Tae thin neeps, ye gae up an doon thae rowse.
Leave jist yin each six inches, sae it growse.
The thought of lunch was a breeze-fanned island,
What is the time? our common famous question.
The shrinking patch of field still to be weeded
was joy and thought we'd be no longer needed.
He'd blow through his lips: Gerad, ye're the best yin
O thae young uns that come here!
Or
biggest fool
I sometimes thought, those languid days
After the last exams, when I skipped school.
But no jam pieces nor hot teas tasted more
Significant than that field's, and strongest praise
The two green pounds each day's end, my limbs sore.
Skeleton Staff
Spring Bank Holiday. The first hot day of the year.
As the others, in shorts, slob around beer gardens
or sprawl in parks with chicklit/new noir/cult horror
or take to the hills with sandwiches and suncream
or, closing the curtains, go back to bed for sex –
skeleton staff clip softly around the workspace,
strokingthe cool chrome of the filing cabinets,
the beaded chill of the water dispenser;
not switching on computers, not talking on the phone.
A spent sigh hangs in the air like a limp windsock.
The carpet no longer smells of trampled ambition.
The sun has passed the window. The shade is unconditional.
Stripped of flesh, the bones make the place their own.
Skills
inventing jobs
teaching the skills
of applying for jobs
- - - -
one of millions
training
to acquire the skills
to apply for a job
- - - - -
not out of a job
but training
to apply for a job
and to be in a job
efficiently
- - - - - - -
co-operating with management
competing with colleagues
learning the ropes
from 'Wanted a husband'
Wanted a husband who doesn't suppose,
That all earthly employments one feminine knows, –
That she'll scrub, do the cleaning, and cooking, and baking,
And plain needlework, hats and caps, and dressmaking.
Do the family washing, yet always look neat,
Mind the bairns, with a temper unchangeably sweet,
Be a cheerful companion, whenever desired,
And contentedly toil day and night, if required.
Men expecting as much, one may easily see,
But they're not what is wanted, at least, not by me.
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