THE laconic title and matter of fact language can't hide the admiration that Hamish Whyte feels for the older generation whose toughness and sterling qualities enabled them to surmount harsh economic conditions with dignity, and to thrive.

His tribute to them comes from his latest collection Hannah, Are You Listening? (HappenStance, £4).

DEBT

The grandfathers are the ones to thank,

they're the ones who escaped hunger,

lack of land, a horse and cart existence

to become station master, photographer,

dealer in oil and anything;

and the grandmothers with them

making do and mending:

socks, manners, grammar.

My great-grandfather Berry, church beadle,

late of the 11th Foot, died suddenly

in 1892, leaving his wife, a former mill girl,

with nine children in a Glasgow tenement.

There's a photograph of them all,

all immaculately turned out, heads up,

looking at their future.

One of them is my mother's father.