Poetry: Margaret Tait; ‘A Poem for a Morning’

MARGARET Tait (1918-1999) was perhaps better known in her lifetime as a filmmaker than as a poet.

She published three collections between 1959 and 1960, and while she continued to write, stories and essays as well as verse, she concentrated on making short films. Ironically, given the way in which it has tended to overshadow her written work, her films are often described as “poetic”. A new collection, Poems, Stories and Writings (Fyfield Press, £12.95), aims to redress the balance, and “A Poem for a Morning”, in its enthusiasm and sunny determination, is a good way to start the day.

I’m out here now

on the roof. Look!

I had to get nearer the sky,

For the city was too full of rooms

And I can’t be content with a window.

It’s too small a thing to accept the ready-made frame.

We builders must keep making our own cities.

Oh, please

Don’t fell the trees

For your city, because I need them for mine.

You can borrow Poems, Stories and Writings by Margaret Tait from the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Edinburgh EH8 8DT. Tel: [phone], e-mail [email protected] or see spl.org.uk for details.