Poem of the month 2021

April 2021 - Anne B. Murray

Lockdown Walk

The river so low you can see the discarded

supermarket trolleys.  I pause by Stirling Harbour,

watch three swans preening themselves;

they need it, they are grubby grey.

I gaze downriver: once this place bustled with trade:

French wines, Spanish oils, wood from  Baltic ports.

In return we sold cloth, salmon, coal.

Pleasure steamers took passengers all the way to Leith.

I glance back at the swans.  How they have

transformed themselves, snow-white again.

So much happens when I am looking away

from the main event of the present.

This thought consoles me as I

deliberately avoid news bulletins

of death, disease, economic collapse

and walk and walk and walk away from it all.

Bio:

Anne B. Murray is Glaswegian, now living in Stirling. Her poems have been published in several journals including New Writing Scotland, Penning, Gutter and Amethyst, and in anthologies by Luath Press and Grey Hen Press. She has produced five poetry pamphlets, most recently The Colour Shop (Terra Firma Press 2019). A passionate believer that poetry is meant to be heard, she organises public poetry readings and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, Glasgow’s Aye Write and Stirling’s Off the Page Festivals.

Poem of the Month Submissions

Hello Stirling poets!

I’m now open to submissions of poems on any topic with a connection to Stirling. Those who've lived, worked or studied in Stirling, or have written a poem about Stirling, I'd love to hear from you!

Successful poems will be published on the Stirling Council platforms and promoted on social media, with a fee of £20 awarded to the poet. 

Laura Fyfe

Submission Guidelines

• One poem only per person
• Poems invited on any topic
• Up to 40 lines. 
• Previously published accepted. 
• Copyright remains with the poet 
• Poems to be used at the discretion of Stirling Council.
• Please include a title sheet on the first page with your name, word or line count, title(s), a 50-word bio and your preferred contact details.
• We regret that we cannot provide feedback.
• Emails should be titled ‘Stirling Makar Poem of the Month + YOUR NAME’
• Please send all submissions to: Makar@Stirling.gov.uk.