![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/29705e7c79d0a961a50f0fd489d4905a.jpg\" "\\"Tam")
\nDavid Betteridge<\/strong> presents two poems to help you enjoy an alternative Burns supper.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n At An Alternative Burns Supper<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n His short life and his fertility<\/em> I<\/p>\n Here’s tae the man’s life – Here’s tae the wark – Here’s tae the words that he gar’d flow – Here’s tae the faur-travellin o’ that stream! <\/span> Idealist without losing touch<\/em><\/span> II<\/p>\n … I would winnow the man Winnow, I say, then winnow more; I would sweep aside the cotter’s likewise the chameleon roles Winnow, and distil!<\/p>\n His resources are extraordinarily abundant,<\/em> What’s left of worth – III<\/p>\n “The bard’s best, and the world’s best, too.” He disposes of light and shadow, but his light<\/em> Tak thi man-n-his stuff intire! Gie us this dey ur poems incarnate! IV<\/p>\n … He was amphibian. He is young as a boy,<\/em> V<\/p>\n If Life’s nae a jig in July weather, …carried to the grave<\/em> May SANG sustain us on our way, <\/p>\n CHORUS OF THE PEOPLE<\/span><\/strong> We are the nothings you walk past. Expendable, Unheeded and unnamed, Every ton and inch and cubic yard and chisel-cut Every furrow ploughed and filled with seed Your wealth-producing factories; Day in, day out, we do your work and will. We are your numerous and essential kin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" David Betteridge presents two poems to help you enjoy an alternative Burns supper. At An Alternative Burns Supper His short life and his fertilitylift his perfection…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":380,"featured_media":11907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1660],"tags":[1763],"class_list":["post-11909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-2","tag-burns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/380"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
lift his perfection to the rank of the phenomenal…<\/em>
– Aphorisms on Mozart, by Ferruccio Busoni<\/p>\n
its drivin root, its rise, its faur reach –
and tae the great hairst he gather’d in!<\/p>\n
the high skill, the luve, the daurk hours –
that he pit in!<\/p>\n
a muckle stream –
frae his hert’s ferment and his mind’s still!<\/p>\n
Here’s tae its carried gowd!
Here’s tae the lang and future legacy
ane sma’ life endow’d!<\/p>\n
with the earth, realist without ugliness…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
from the chaff of his myth;
the works from the man;
and the best of the works
from the run of the mill.<\/p>\n
then, at the last, distil!<\/p>\n
and the hoghmagandie nights,
the barley-rigs and -bree;<\/p>\n
of ploughman-penman-citizen,
of ranting dog, of Jacobite, and Jacobin,
and keeper of crapulous company.<\/p>\n
but he never uses them all…<\/em><\/p>\n
epistles, satires, songs, a handful’s few –
has high cask-strength: here
is the bard’s best, and the world’s best, too…<\/p>\n
Best: how Ah hate thi term!
Wurld’s best is wurse, excrementil,
thru-n-thru. As fur thi shit wurd the – euch! –
it’s faur-n-awey thi wurst o aw thi terms
in Abstractionism’s buik.
It’s purest extramentil, n that is definit.<\/p>\n
does not pain, and his darkness still shows<\/em>
clear outlines…<\/em><\/p>\n
Nae finicky-pickity pluckin o plooms!
Burns wis complexit wi his place-n-times,
n he writ wi his haill sel fired.
Read it thi same: leeve in it, imbrace it,
breathe it, crap bits-n-aw: like it’s a freend:
jist as it is: baggy, raw.<\/p>\n
Onythin less is Plato’s pish,
n that is definate.<\/p>\n
Languages, genres, points of view, and styles –
he moved between them easily.
Fast-travelling, he seldom stayed in any one
for long, until, towards his early end,
he made landfall in an archipelago of song.
It was for him, and for posterity,
his Fortunate Isles.
There, to every Muse
containable in verse, he gave the blessing
of his voice, a blessing that, in reading
and in singing, we can never lose…<\/p>\n
and wise as an old man –<\/em>
never old-fashioned and never modern…<\/em><\/p>\n
but a gallop insteid, hell for leather,
wi’ nocht at the end save a tightenin’ tether,
wi’ dark beyond,
best we a’ gang our gate thegither,
in Freenship’s bond.<\/p>\n
and always alive…<\/em><\/p>\n
remind us whaur we first saw day,
an’ prime us for the waitin’ clay,
whan a’ are cow’d.
Until that time, may LUVE haud sway,
an’ LIFE ride proud.<\/p>\n
Against the Elites<\/span><\/p>\n
Your lowest and least,
we live in the margins of your power.<\/p>\n
we fight your many wars.
Your triumphs we pay for,
but have none.<\/p>\n
we make your schemes come true.<\/p>\n
of every building you command,
is ours.<\/p>\n
is ours.<\/p>\n
your cities –
ours!<\/p>\n
We pipe the water that you need from reservoir to tap;
we stitch the clothes that cover up your nakedness;
we bake the bread (and cake) you eat.<\/p>\n