Today I have the privilege of bringing to you two poems by Bashabi Fraser, who will no doubt be very well known to many people in the poetry community and further afield. Bashabi’s talents, publications and credentials are far too numerous to list here, but I urge everyone to have a look at her fascinating website, of particular note (for me) is Bashabi’s moving reminiscence of the late Angus Calder. Both of these poems require a little bit of background information. ‘Wordpower Books’ in the first poem was Edinburgh’s radical independent bookshop, recently changing ownership (but not ethos) to become ‘Lighthouse Bookshop‘. The acronym ‘WRVS’ in the title of the second poem stands for ‘Women’s Royal Voluntary Service’.
The Lyrical Aye: Richie McCaffery 