Two poems which mean a lot to me are

1. Prìosan by Donald MacAulay

2. Whithorn Manse by Alastair Reid

1. Donald MacAulay is one of Scotland’s most renowned Gaelic poets and is able to provide richness of emotional place and sentiment in his writing by honing his words and keeping them spare.

2. I was brought up in a rural schoolhouse, as Alastair Reid was in a manse. The poem therefore speaks volumes to me and captures the loneliness of finding your true element.

For me, both poems express in different ways, the ongoing need in some of us to identify what we are.