Lynn Valentine lives on the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands. She is working towards her debut poetry collection which will be published by Cinnamon Press in April 2022, after winning their Literature Award. She has a Scots language pamphlet ‘A Glimmer o Stars’ out with Hedgehog Poetry Press, after winning their dialect competition.  She was one of five North poets commissioned by the Scottish Poetry Library in 2020 as part of their Champions project. Lynn was awarded runner-up place in the Scots category of the Wigtown Poetry Prize in 2021.

Thi Leid o Hame (after Roger Robinson)

A hae cairriet this hansel withoot kennin,
this thrapple that thraws oot thi rrrs.
Fir years a thocht tae smoor it doon,

as teachers wid, eyewis thi correktions,
thi head instead o heid, thi dead instead
o deid. Ma faither gied it tae me,

ma granny tae — aa those who draggit
oan tae land at my hame toon — fish
who grew hurdies an settilt there.

A unpack thi bag—it sings sangs o hame
an faimily an athin o thi sea—thi reek
o Smokies that still maks ma veggie moo
slabber, thi lang cauld wind wheechin in

fae thi Flairs, thi reid o thi cliffs bricht
at ony time o year. A will tak this hansel
an pass it oan, scrieve ma wurds, sing ma sangs.