Poems

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This is a short, personal and unrepresentative selection of some of MacCaig's 700-odd published poems. By and large, I've tried to avoid the more metaphysical earlier poems, as wellas those which lean heavily on classical references — these are definitely worth attention, but are probably less immediately accessible than the rest. The text for all except the last two is taken from the 1985 edition of MacCaig's Collected Poems. I don't think there are any misprints, but if there are, blame me...

Drifter, from Riding Lights (1955).

November night, Edinburgh, from The Sinai Sort (1957).

Poem for a goodbye, from The Sinai Sort (1957).

Crofter's kitchen, evening, contemporary with A Common Grace (1960) but published 1985.

Goat, from A Common Grace (1960).

Fetching cows, from Measures (1965).

Frogs, from Surroundings (1966).

Assisi, from Surroundings (1966).

Crossing the Border, from Rings on a Tree (1968).

Aunt Julia, from Rings on a Tree (1968).

One of the many days, from A Man in My Position (1969).

A man in Assynt (extract), from A Man in My Position (1969).

After his death, from The White Bird (1973).

Country dance, from The White Bird (1973).

Ringed plover by a water's edge, from The World's Room (1974).

Kingfisher, from Tree of Strings (1977).

Three figures of Beethoven, from Tree of Strings (1977).

Highland funeral, from The Equal Skies (1980).

Rag and bone, from The Equal Skies (1980).

Toad, from The Equal Skies (1980).

Characteristics, contemporary with A World of Difference (1983), but published 1985.

Emblems: after her illness, from Voice Over (1988).

London to Edinburgh, contemporary with Voice Over (1988), but first published 1993.

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