Poetry Friday: Bairns' games in the words of J. K. Annand…
Friday, June 18th, 2010
With our current focus on How Children Play Around the World, I’ve also been looking a wee bit closer to home and have enjoyed revisiting Bairn Rhymes (Mercat Press, 1999) by Scottish poet J. K. Annand (1908-1993). He was passionate about Scottish poetry and his own poetry for children is wonderful. I have chosen a couple of extracts from the “Games” section of Bairn Rhymes.
The first is from the poem “Conkers” – and I wish you could see Dennis Carabine’s accompanying illustration of “me” leaning smugly against a tree while “my” opponent tries to smash “my” conker – and there’s some lovely play later on in the poem between “conker” and “conquer” too, but here’s the exhilarating beginning:
We’re for the laird’s wuid,
Geordie speels the tree,
Shakes aa the conkers
Doun on me.
The second poem I’ve chosen is called “Skatin”, which charts learning to ice-skate. Little Brother empathises with this one, and still feels stuck in the first verse:
Skatin on the ice
I tummelt aince or twice.
I gaed hame feelin glum
Wi bruises on my bum.
This beautifully produced book makes no allowances for anyone not reasonably well-versed in Scots – but I’d really encourage you to have a go. With poems about animals and birds; people like the Dentist, the Polis or the Postie; or childhood encounters such as “Grannie’s Scooter” or the “Twa-leggit Mice” who mither thinks eat the chocolate biscuits out of the tin, the collection is a delightful evocation of childhood that offers nostalgia to the grown-ups and contemporary relevance to children. Poetry can do that!
This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Two Writing Teachers – head on over!
