Ideas box…

Lucky dip

Close your eyes, take a deep breath and wish. Tell yourself you will pick just one single poem to try before you leave this page.

Whatever kinds of book you – or your family, friends and bookgroup – like to read, we can always find you a poem that will go with it. Just for fun, we printed some of these lists up as bookmarks, but they really seem to have taken readers' fancies so we keep putting them out… and miracle of miracles, they keep vanishing.

Search our online catalogue by subject, and you'll find books and poems matching a treasure-trove of topics.

Dip into… Westerns

If you like westerns, then try to corral...

The Ballad of Elder McGrath
John Hartley Williams, Bright River Yonder

Summary of a Western
Sophie Hannah, Selected Poems

The Shooting of Dan McGrew
Robert Service

Heroes of the West: High Noon to Midnight
Ron Butlin, Without A Backward Glance

The End of the Western
Iain Crichton Smith, River, River: Poems For Children

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Dip into… DIY

More fun reading about DIY than actually doing it? Cautionary tales...

A Few Don'ts About Decoration
by Simon Armitage, Kid

DIY
by Adam Thorpe, Meeting Montaigne

Taste
by Eva Salzman, The English Earthquake

Fix-It Duck
by Jez Alborough, Fix-It Duck

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Dip into… Travel

If you like travel writing, try exploring these…

Impressions du Voyage
by Oscar Wilde, Poems

Palm Trees
by Rex Warner, Oxford Book Of Travel Verse

The Black Bike
by Valerie Gillies, Bed Of Stone

Tropic Rain
by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Collected Poems Of Robert Louis Stevenson

A Sea-Chantey
by Derek Walcott, A Green Night: Poems 1948-1960

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Dip into… Crime fiction

If you like crime fiction, try detecting these…

Girl Detective
by Tracey Herd, No Hiding Place

The Great Detectives
by Glyn Maxwell, Rest For The Wicked

Trust
by Stacey Tully, Fifty Strong

Detective Story
by Nancy Keesing, The Oxford Book Of Australian Women's Verse

Dark Glasses
by Blake Morrison, Dark Glasses

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Dip into… Science fiction

If you like science fiction, prepare for an encounter with…

Child Sightings
John Kinsella, Visitants

Hive
Carolyn Forché, Blue Hour

The Mouth
Edwin Morgan, Star Gate

The Spacefarer
Julie Holder, Spaceways

Scotch Star Trek
Alexander Scott, The Collected Poems Of Alexander Scott

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Dip into… Gardening

If you like gardening books, branch out and try…

The Solitary In Autumn
John Burnside, Poems For Gardeners

Greenhouse
Simon Armitage, Zoom

Cabbage Dreams
Jo Shapcott, Her Book: Poems 1988-1998

Thistles
Ted Hughes, This Green Earth: A Celebration Of Nature Poetry

Cherish
Raymond Carver, Flora Poetica

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Dip into… Food

If you like food writing, try a taste of…

The Chef's Eyes
Roz Goddard, Poetry On A Plate

Romance And The Scottish Palate
Brian Whittingham, A Scottish Feast

I Try My Absolute Best
Jackie Kay, The Adoption Papers

Song
Wendy Cope, If I Don't Know

Frying Tonight
Vernon Scannell, A Time For Fires

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Dip into… History

If you like history, research these…

The Minoans
Alison Brackenbury, Dreams Of Power And Other Poems

Eighteen Sixtyone
Walt Whitman, Civil War Poetry And Prose

Lepanto
G K Chesterton, The Poetry Of History

Castles
Stewart Conn, In The Blood

After The War
Liz Lochhead, The Firebox: Poetry In Britain And Ireland After 1945

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Dip into… Poems about Scotland

To explore Scotland, visit these…

Geordie Jamesone (Aberdeen)
by Sheena Blackhall, A Boorich O Fowk

Dundee (Dundee)
by John Burnside, The Myth Of The Twin

Camera Obscura (Edinburgh)
by Robin Robertson, A Painted Field

A Priest Came On At Merkland Street (Glasgow)
by Tom Leonard, Intimate Voices

Inverness Airport (Inverness)
by Liz Niven, Burning Whins

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Dip into… Poems about Edinburgh

For perspectives on Edinburgh, view these…

Gàrradh Moray Place An Dùn Eideann /
Moray Place Gardens, Edinburgh
by Meg Bateman, Aotromachd / Lightness

Edinburgh Gulls
by Angus Calder, Sun Behind The Castle: Edinburgh Poems

To Charles Baxter
by Robert Louis Stevenson, Collected Poems

Na Faoileagan Maidne / The Morning Gulls
by George Campbell Hay, Collected Poems

Edinburgh
by Margot Robert Adamson, The Edinburgh Book Of Verse

For more poems on Edinburgh, read…

Luckenbooth: An Anthology Of Edinburgh Poems

edited by Lizzie MacGregor (Polygon, 2007)

Dip into… Poems for special occasions

For births, celebrations, consolations…

There are so many requests for poems to read at weddings and commitment ceremonies, at funerals, or to celebrate a new baby, that the Scottish Poetry Library has published three little hardbacked anthologies. You can borrow these books from the SPL, or buy them.

Handfast
Scottish Poems For Weddings And Affirmations

Lament
Scottish Poems For Funerals And Consolations

Handsel
Scottish Poems For Welcoming And Naming Babies

Dip into… poems in The Scotsman, for choice modern poetry

Every Saturday, The Scotsman makes space to publish a poem, selected and introduced by staff at the Scottish Poetry Library.

Wherever possible, we pick poems from recently published books, or poems which match special commemorations, festivals or holidays, and of course, poems or extracts no longer than 20 lines.

January's choice

Jeg Skal Aldri Gråte
by Gerry Stewart, Post-Holiday Blues (Flambard Press, 2007)

My Ode to Barcelona
Joan Margarit, trans Anna Crowe, Barcelona Amor Final (Proa, 2007)

Dancer
Michael Munro, Poems For Alice (HappenStance, 2007)

Westerns
DIY
Travel
Crime fiction
Science fiction
Gardening
Food
History
Scotland
Edinburgh
Special occasions
poems in The Scotsman


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