Scots poem of the month - January 2009

This piece of creative writing was supplied by the Scottish Poetry Library who receive Foundation funding from the Scottish Arts Council.

The Boodie An The Craa Fin eence a tattie boodie Socht tae fricht a hoodie-craa, Maister Craa jist made a feel o him; He wisna feart avaa. Na, na, na! "Yir duds," he said, "may flaffer, Fin the win begins tae blaa; But a fairmer made a strae Was be the first I iver saa. Caa, caa, caa! Yir fun'ral haat is foostie; Thon aal cuttie disna draa; Wi a shank that's aff the besom, Gin ye seek tae rin, ye'll faa. Caa, caa, caa! Ye'd maybe fricht a teuchat; But ye canna fleg a craa; For ye're naething but a boodie; I've seen better eens an aa, Caa, caa, caa!" Douglas Kynoch from Fit Like, Yer Majesty? (Reading Bus Press, 2008) This verse was originally published by the former 'North-east Muse' column of The Press and Journal newspaper. A musical version of it is included among the twenty songs and verses composed by Douglas and performed by him and others on the CD, 'Teach Yourself Doric' (Lismor LICS 5239). Poem supplied courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library

About the poet Douglas Kynoch is a son of the North-east. He is a former broadcaster (Grampian TV, Aberdeen and BBC Scotland in Glasgow), who has written for most of his life in both Scots and in English. In his time as a freelance, he scraped a living for four years, writing a weekly light verse for BBC Radio Scotland but has since written more serious work, including a good deal of Christian material, which he has found seemingly virtually impossible to have published. Having retired to his native Aberdeen, he reads monthly at meetings of the Dead Good Poets. Apart from two humour books in Doric (including the best-selling 'Teach Yourself Doric'), he has compiled a Doric dictionary and edited an extensive collection of N.E. proverbs and sayings. He is also the author of a comic Scottish history, 'Here's tae us! Wha's Like Us' and a humorous book of theology (!), 'Conversations with a Cat'.