Poems from the Back Room 32: Des Dillon!

Poet, short story writer, novelist, dramatist, scriptwriter for radio and screen, Des Dillon is an internationally known and respected writer. Born in Coatbridge, he now lives in Garlieston in Wigtownshire.

Using the energy of  the everyday language in his part of west Scotland, and his own love of writers like Carver, Salinger and Bob Dylan, he creates writing that is vibrant, realistic and powerful. Edwin Morgan described his debut novel as one that  'Reminded me of Twain and Kerouac ... a story told with wonderful verve, immediacy and warmth'.

Coming to literature via various career paths like fruit machine engineer, joiner and teacher, he is the author of a host of books and plays, his great novel 'Me and Ma Girl', the one described above by Edwin Morgan, being listed as one of the '100 great Scottish books of all time'. Des writes across a wide field of disciplines and this is popularly supposed to diffuse or dilute your talent but not in his case, as he is annoyingly brilliant at everything. He says, in his profile at the Scottish Poetry Library, that  ‘I always considered myself to be first and foremost, a poet’and it's his poetry we feature here.




Like many other writers and poets he's a passionate advocate of Scottish independence. He is also a great animal lover. What's not to like?

Here's another poem

first published in the Centre o the Scots Leid

The Braithe O A Deer by Des Dillon

Fankled shankies in the vanashin rid
licht o a Range Rover. I dusht the brakes
an hazards greetin Whit’ll we dae?
as I jamp oot scooping her aff the road,
that gracie neck, langer than I thocht, hingin.
Dinnae worry darlin, I’ve gat ye. Joanne cradled
her heid ontil a cushion. Three braiths met.
Kissin her mooth I saw ma eemage



dwynin oan the muckle daurk een o life.
We wheeshed an clapped, ma paum oan her hert.
Faur in the wids we fund a haly place
an happit her hide in gowden brachen.
Then soond: the saft stramash o a young deer
risin ayont the trees tae thon starry whirligig.

http://www.desdillon.com/



https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/des-dillon/