Wherever We Live Now

ISBN: 978-1-906700-54-6

Her first full collection Wherever We Live Now was published in 2011 by Red Squirrel Press.

Wherever We Live Now includes poems about archaeology, about the creation of a sense of belonging and of national identity, and about how the way we see and relate to the natural world shapes how we see and feel about ourselves and the communities we live in.

The People on the Streets

For Women in Black Scotland

There are people on the streets collecting

and shopping and on their way to work.

There are people bringing music and colour

and languages from everywhere, and suitcases,

and cameras stealing the architecture.

There are people on the streets, selling

or performing – silver and leather, and statues

suspended improbably, and opportunities

to take a selfie with a storm trooper,

follow a ghost, spit on a stone heart.

There are people on the streets, kneeling

on their muddy duvets, holding up cards

that claim they don’t take drugs. They have dogs

and tattoos, and nowhere to go, since hostels

have doubled their prices, and it is cold.

There are women on the streets in black.

They don’t sell anything. They are there

because of people who aren’t on the streets,

the bombed or disappeared. They will be there

in mourning until there is an end to war.