This little tale in vernacular Scots is by Rab Wilson and serves as a reminder of the McCash Scots Poetry Competition, details below.

          DUMFOUNERT WI WUNNER

They taen the Kelloholm weans doun the street,

Twa, three wee anes frae the Nursery Schuil,

A jaunt tae the shops, social learnin skills,

Wi mibbes ice-cream thrown in fir a treat.

Ower the brig, across the swollen Nith,

‘Keep in you pair, mind haud each ither’s hauns!’

Wide-eyed the weans tak in the warld’s oan-gauns;

Ane spys some men wha’re thrang up oan a ruif,

An innocently daels her Joker caird,

Lik a fledgling bird bent oan kenning why,

She luiks up an she speirs ‘Miss, whit’s gaun oan?

Distrackitly, her teacher maks repone:

‘Ah dout they must be pittin up the  “SKY”.’

Dumfounert wi wunner, the wean juist stared.

A REMINDER: There is still time to enter the McCash Scots Poetry Competition with its generous prizes of £1000, £750, and five of £250.

All types of Scots can be used, from the classic cadences of the sixteenth-century Makars to regional dialects, and the contemporary demotic of the cities.

The theme is Destinations. Up to three original, unpublished poems of no more than 30 lines each, can be submitted by post, not email, to McCash Scots Poetry Competition, c/o Lesley Duncan, The Herald editorial, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB, to arrive by January 31.