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Ron Butlin

Wer d'ye come fae?...

"I hadn't written a poem since I was at school, a long time ago..."

Read more about this exciting new project which encouraged participants of a range of backgrounds to share stories about life in Scotland and to write about their experiences.

Get with the programme...

SPL summer events are announced! Andrew O'Hagan, Thomas A Clark, Lise Sinclair, renga with Colin Will, The Great Book Show with Louis de Paor: get in quick before tickets go...

More SPL Events

A Recipe for Whisky

Wring the Scottish rain clouds dry;
Take sleet, the driving snow, the hail;
Winter twilight; the summer's sun slowed down
to pearl-sheen dusk on hillsides, city-roofs,
on lochs at midnight.
And, most of all, take the years that have already run
to dust, the dust we spill behind us…

All this, distill. And cask. And wait.
The senselessness of human things resolves
to who we are – our present fate.
Let's taste, let's savour and enjoy.
Let's share once more.
Another glass for absent friends. Pour
until the bottle's done.

Here's life! Here's courage to go on!

Read about Ron Butlin