‘You campaign in poetry; you govern in prose,’ as the late former New York governor Mario Cuomo famously put it. A cynic might say the UK general election campaign has produced no poetry and precious little decent prose. But we’re not cynical. From today, thanks to the Scottish Poetry Library, we are delighted to add a new dimension to Sceptical Scot and it will be pure poetry. Though not necessarily free from politics.
Where better to start than with Edwin Morgan and his For the Opening of the Scottish Parliament – written for that grand occasion in 2004. This is the Poem of the Moment on the Scottish Poetry Library website and, to quote Colin Waters, SPL communications manager, it is a ‘charm against cynicism’:
We’ve been living with this General Election campaign for at least the past month. Given how the polling day arithmetic is adding up, it looks like it won’t be over even after Thursday, when talks over forming a coalition government will begin. Time then for a reading of Edwin Morgan’s ‘For the Opening of the Scottish Parliament, 9 October 2004’, a charm against cynicism and feeling jaded.
Admittedly, Colin confessed on the phone yesterday, it was not easy to find a poem free from party political bias. Glasgow-born Morgan not only supported the SNP he left it almost £1million in his will when he died in August 2010 at the age of 90. But Glasgow’s first Poet Laureate was also first to hold the post of Scots Makar, an honour bestowed in 2004 by the then Labour First Minister, Jack McConnell, and created by the then Scottish Executive to recognise the achievements of Scottish poets throughout the centuries.
And we would challenge any party to find fault with the spirit of the language in this poem, brimful of practical energy and mischievous challenge. A beacon of hope that the Scottish parliament can produce robust and democratically accountable governments working to the best of their ability in the best interests of all the people.
If the results of this general election are anything like as confusing as the polls suggest then we will need whoever occupies the slippery seats of power to govern with good clear prose. And, with luck, the occasional shot of poetry too. Perhaps we should remember this May we are voting for a government in Westminster. Here’s a short extract of what Morgan hoped for Holyrood:
What do the people want of the place? They want it to be filled with thinking persons as open and adventurous as its architecture.
A nest of fearties is what they do not want.
A symposium of procrastinators is what they do not want.
A phalanx of forelock-tuggers is what they do not want.
And perhaps above all the droopy mantra of ‘it wizny me’ is what they do not want.
It’s an aspiration for Scottish politicians which should not stop at the Scottish Borders. The whole sizzling poem is on the Scottish Poetry Library website. And look out for the Sceptical Scot link to Poem of the Moment in our new poetry category.
Postscript: Words, however eloquent, do not always translate into beneficial actions. For a tribute to the life and work of Mario Cuomo (1932-2015) see Elizabeth Kolbert in the New Yorker and note the rueful poignancy of the inscription the politician suggested for his gravestone: ‘He tried.’
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