SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 1492 Title : Going Home Author(s): Sheila Templeton Copyright holder(s): Sheila Templeton Text Peesie weeps and whaups shrieking wheeling high above ploughed parks. Granda's calloused hand holds mine. We are watching oyster catchers mincing in the shining shallow waters of the quartz pebbled Don. He wears faded flapping dungarees with a craftsman's special pocket. His bonnet covers bumpy bits and narrow strands of hair. I lean against his smell, freshly dusted sawdust mixed through Capstan Navy Full Strength. We wonder at a salmon glistening on a bed of fragrant weed. Then like a serving spoon the river flips it over. We see what's underneath. 'Ach. Otters are right bonny beasts but they're selfish wee buggers' He shows me distant Bennachie with Mither Tap glassing black against its clouds. I listen rapt to tales of vanished tribes who built tall fires there, who knew how to melt rock and weld stones forever. Then going home planting my feet in Granda's prints, in that careful space down the side of a park filled with young green corn. This work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The SCOTS Project and the University of Glasgow do not necessarily endorse, support or recommend the views expressed in this document. Information about document and author: Text Text audience General public: Audience size: 1000+ Text details Method of composition: Wordprocessed Year of composition: 2006 Word count: 167 Text medium Book: Newspaper: Periodical/journal: Radio: Text publication details Published: Part of larger text: Contained in: Slow Road Home (Sheila Templeton) / Running Threads (Jim Hughes, Rowena M Love, Michael Malone, Sheila Templeton) Text setting Leisure/entertainment: Private/personal: Text type Poem/song/ballad: Author Author details Author id: 1075 Forenames: Sheila Surname: Templeton Gender: Female Decade of birth: 1940 Educational attainment: University Age left school: 18 Upbringing/religious beliefs: upbringing Protestantism, now Eastern Yoga meditation practice Occupation: Retired Teacher Place of birth: Aberdeen Region of birth: Aberdeen Birthplace CSD dialect area: Abd Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Troon Region of residence: S Ayr Residence CSD dialect area: Ayr Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Railway Engineer / originally farm worker Father's place of birth: Stoneywood Father's region of birth: Aberdeen Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Abd Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's occupation: Doctors' Receptionist Mother's place of birth: Dyce Mother's region of birth: Aberdeen Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Abd Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: At work, at home, writing Language: Scots Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: At home, writing work mainly poetry