Patchwork Poem 2025

A Federation of Writers Scotland Patchwork Poem for National Poetry Day 2025.

 

The Play’s the Thing

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Play, the Bard said, now there’s the thing.
I quietly envy Shakespeare's taste,
the theatre of drama, comedy, tragedy.
An eager audience watches
where the rehearsal unfolds,
waiting to be filled with books.
I am swept into the make-believe,
another place, another time, another world,
recalling life through a thick haze.
The school's a long time gone, and yet
the world celebrates. It is not too late;
people believe we will be stars after our death.

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Adult eyes don’t see the treasures in my pocket,
nothing you can touch except in memory;
boys bouncing footballs off uneven kerb stones,
snatching chukkies efter birlin jacks,
playing jorries on the stank,
hunting pirates, poachers, four-leaf clovers,
far-off fathers and mothers calling us home,
the fall back to earth, the beautiful bounce.

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The moment lives, a still life pinned to my mind;
at the shore, in wind-whipped waterproofs,
puffins playing above basalt columns,
honing their skills through instinctual games.
We know a version of that freedom.
I sip on my wine, lend an ear, and wonder,
lying in the shade of evening ash
- rose, hyacinth, fuchsia, cerise, coral, magenta -
now a memory. I smile, tasting delight
bursting out of the trees in the cover of laughter.

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You say your life is too busy with work, no time,
no chance to sit and to rest.
Who’s comin’ oot tae play chap the door an’ run away?

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This poem was created by taking a single line from contributions by the following writers:
Steve Ashton
Mandy Beattie
Maria Bonar
Antje Bothin
Rita Bradd
A C Clarke
Colette Coen
Janet Crawford
Binod Dawadi
Katy Ewing
Martin Goldie
Jenifer Harley
Beag Horn
Andy Jackson
M.T.Kielty
Slava Konaval
Niki McCrossan
Ann MacKinnon
Liza Miles
Anne Mitchell
Ellie Ness
Kriss Nicol
Mamie Philp
Maggie Rabatski
Philippa Ramsden
Kate Shenton-Ross
Roddy Scott
Hazel Stevens
Lynn Valentine
Elaine Webster
Jacqueline Whymark
Angela Yausheva
Kate Young

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Poem collated by Andy Jackson
With many thanks to A C Clarke