Outside the narrative

This is a 2019 reprint published by his surviving family and intended to be as close to the original as possible.

It contains work from his two main collections Intimate Voices (Poetry 1965-83) and access to the silence (Poems 1984-2004); also poems from Being a Human Being (2006) and work not in previous books including an elegaic sequence for his mother, a prose memoir of his father, a poem-suite "on the page" and a tri-part envoi to the collection.


CONTENTS

Pollok Poster 1 13

Six Glasgow Poems 14

The Voyeur 20

Dripping with Nostalgia 21

Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae 22

don't tell wordsworth 23

Four of the Belt 24

The Psycopath 25

The Appetite 26

Storm Damage 27

A Priest Came on at Merkland Street 28

an oxford dictionary 36

Poetry 37

Jist ti Let Yi No 38

Tea Time 39

Paroakial 40

A Summer's Day still life with creative writing teacher 41

Yon Night 43

Feed ma Lamz 44

The Qualification 45

The Dropout 46

Fireworks 47

Makars Society 48

Crack 49

Pfff 50

Moral Philosophy 51

My Parents' Living Room at Christmas 53

Fathers and Sons 54

Placenta 55

The Rainbow Of 56

breathe deep and regular with it 61

Rosebud 62

100 Differences between Poetry and Prose 63

The Evidence 64

Proem 65

who wants to be free 66

your eyes 67

An Ageing Writer 68

The Performance 69

epitaph 75

in the beginning was the word 76

from Unrelated Incidents 77

ma lungz iz fuckt 83

humpty dumpty 84

mehta physics 85

would thi prisoner 86

baa baa black sheep 87

commemorative stamp 88

yonza big wank 89

efturryd geenuz iz speel 90

right inuff 91

An Old Story 92

colorado mountain air 93

Honest 94

so whut day yi day wi yirsell then ih 98

yi surta 99

seen im? 100

Opting for early retirement 101

firmly 102

Skills 103

The underfunder's utopia 104

doon the close 105

Myths in These Parts106respite in the reading 107

the enemy without 108

a handy news standfor the next bombing 109

The Present Tense 110

ablative absolute 123

situations theoretical and contemporary 124

the press as bogus phatic communion 128

Blessed Trinity 132

leaning forward 133

1st Poster Poem against the criminal injustice bill 134

4 football haiku 135

a could eata hoarss 136

rest assured 137

glorious weather in a teacup 138

ahma hoarss 139

the mainstream a clerisy 140

nora's place: a Poem in 17 aspects 141

A night at the pictures 160

triptych: the ongoing memorial 163

to have access to the silence 170

in hospital 171

suite: On the Page 172

the case for lower case 178

the pact 180

June the Second 181

touching your face 182

kierkegaard 183

Remembrance Day 184

who want my smile 186

The Fair Cop 187

Wish you were Here 191

getting on with it 194

foodfor thought 195

plasma nights 196

The Proxy Badge of Victimhood 198

Litany: Blair's Britain 201

Epithalamium 203

Being a Human Being 204

An Ayrshire Mother 205

that each one be the subject 210

odysseus 212

A humanist 213

a life 214