Vinnie: A warning

Much to my astonishment I have received many e-mails over the last few days on the subject of Vinnie ............., not all, as might have been expected, demanding his immediate arrest. In fact the vast majority were enquiring as to his identity and where one can access his work. I have not told Vinnie about any of this because he is, of course, a dangerous lunatic well capable of hunting down and exploiting anyone weak enough to express an admiration for him or his work. Vinnie, I warn you, might seem a laugh across the safe distance of cyberspace but when you look out one morning and see a sinister balding man with a huge plastic bag standing in your garden grinning back at you it will be a very different matter.

Vinnie's work is thankfully out of print but I replicate part of one of the long poems from his unforgettable chapbook 'Bald Women and Other Modern Aberrations' (Cankered Press Ardrossan 1978.

The Scottish wumman poets


The Scottish wummen poets
fly to Tirana today,
just what the poor Albanians have done,
no-one can say.

Perhaps it’s some old poetry crime
for which they must atone,
or simply that they haven’t got many
fulminating drabs of their own.

They’re going to spend the week
detailing the injustices of living,
like publishing houses, magazines
and bursaries just for women....