Jim Carruth

This evening I was at the Scottish Poetry Library where my friend the poet Jim Carruth was holding a session alongside four artists with whom he has collaborated. If you don't know his work, Google him and check him out.

Here is a sample from his wonderful and incredibly moving sequence (superbly illustrated too - an example of how well he works with others) called "Baxters' Old Ram Sang the Blues"

Baxter?s old ram sang the blues(an extract)

It began the day the collies rounded up the flock
brought them back for the shearing one short.
It was Baxter that went looking for the ram
finding the animal on a rise near the gorse
breathless under the heavy burden of wool:
all droop and dangle, aroma of foot rot damp
With a gushing bloom of slack jawed drool
the ram turned to him and burst into song.
It?s true, for one wet week last summer
Baxter?s old ram he sang the blues

(from the fable - Baxter's old ram sang the blues)