Poem of the month

Berserk in Morningside They caught the young madwoman And wouldn’t let her go In the cold light of the afternoon. Gripped by the wrists, she soon Ceased struggling and whispered, ‘No!’ In the cold light of the afternoon. Her breast floated like a half-moon Where she twisted to one side, so They caught the young madwoman And around the naked human Others, fully clothed, concealed her show In the cold light of the afternoon. Her whiteness had illumined The street till her overthrow; They caught the young madwoman In the cold light of the afternoon. Valerie Gillies Poem supplied courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library

About the poet Valerie Gillies became Edinburgh Makar, Poet Laureate to the city, in 2005.  She has held several writing fellowships, and has worked as a literary arts practitioner in both psychiatric and general hospitals with Artlink. Valerie is currently working on a collection of poems entitled 'The Spring Teller', for which she was awarded a Creative Scotland Award in 2005.  This is a book of landmark poems inspired by Scotland’s wells and springs. She is editor of the first-ever poetry map of Scotland, which maps locations and living poets electronically on the Scottish Poetry Library website.  Her most recent books are 'Men and Beasts' with photographer Rebecca Marr, 2000, and 'The Lightning Tree', 2002.  She often works in the collaborative arts, most notably in a number of poem-inscriptions with different sculptors at sites across southern Scotland. Work in progress also includes a text/textile exhibition with artist Anna King for Edinburgh Crafts, which opens in the City Art Centre in October 2007.

If you have enjoyed this poem, you can borrow a range of poetry from the Scottish Poetry Library, who also lend by post. Telephone 0131 557 2876 or email reception@spl.org.uk. For an online catalogue, poetry events listings and more featured poems, please visit the Scottish Poetry Library website.