Losses

The furled sail of the fully rigged galley, the Tree of Life, may be a symbolic statement on the passing of life. Card by Marianna Lines.

In a week where we have gained the first female Poet Laureate in Carol Ann Duffy, we are sad to note the passing of three poets who between them exhibited poetry’s enormous breadth.

U A Fanthorpe (1929 – 2009) passed away on 28 April. In An Appreciation in the Guardian, her publisher at Peterloo said ‘UA was a totally original poet who could make you both laugh and cry – sometimes in the same poem’. Tom McGrath (1940 – 2009), of whom the Herald said ‘a playwright and polymath without whom the arts scene in Scotland would not have been as vibrant’ died on 29 April. Maurice Lindsay (1918 – 2009), ‘the grand old man of Scottish letters’ (the Herald) broadcaster, writer, poet and editor has died aged 90 on 30 April. 

TO CATCH THE LAST POST by Maurice Lindsay

The party’s almost over. Though at times a trifle odd,
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for having me, God.
From ‘Brevities’ (Collected Poems 1940 – 1990, Aberdeen University Press, 1990)