Edwin Morgan RIP

[kilted exile]

Scotland's first Makar Edwin Morgan has died. He was the last of the Scottish "Big 7" group of poets along with MacCaig, MacDiarmid, George Mackay Brown, Iain Crichton Smith, Garrioch and Sorley Brown.

My favourite of his poems was One Cigarette


No smoke without you, my fire.
After you left,
your cigarette glowed on in my ashtray
and sent up a long thread of such quiet grey
I smiled to wonder who would believe its signal
of so much love. One cigarette
in the non-smoker's tray.
As the last spire
trembles up, a sudden draught
blows it winding into my face.
Is it smell, is it taste?
You are here again, and I am drunk on your tobacco lips.
Out with the light.
Let the smoke lie back in the dark.
Till I hear the very ash
sigh down among the flowers of brass
I'll breathe, and long past midnight, your last kiss

[blank|verse]

Yes, it's a sad loss, but he left some great poetry.

I don't think the moderators are too keen on people posting work that's still within copyright, so here's a link to the Poetry Archive's selection of recordings by him, including the splendiforous 'The Loch Ness Monster's Song', guaranteed to put a smile on all but the most po-faced....

And there's certainly some strong writers among the next generation of Scottish poets, not least Don Paterson (arguably Britain's greatest living poet) and Robin Robertson.