Scots poet, Irene Broon, is marking Leap Year with a proposal. 

Leap Year 2012

This leap year, wearin the requisite reid petticoat,

A propone

no tae a man nor a wumman

but tae mankind (or at least that bit o mankind that bides in Scotland),

that it shed its lizard skin o cringe;

wipe thon glen’s mist an look aboot wi clear een

on the new ‘tartan’ that maks up modren Scotland;

gie up thon lease oan Granny’s Hielan Hame,

lea it on the latch

for thaim that like their malt

waatered fae a bubblin burn in Brigadoon;

stick back yer shouders

haud up yer heid

but no sae high’s ye cannae see whae’s still in the gutter;

gie respeck tae yer ain tung an culture as ye bosie aa the ithers;

look bumbazed when the BBC says the North East an disnae mean Aiberdeen;

stoap buyin (an sellin) Jimmy hats;

read Burns oan days ither than 25^th January;

aim tae mak MacDiarmid’s 1960 dream,

that crowds flock no juist tae fitbaa

but tae a Scots flyte, come true; 

but afore aa that

let yer barometer o civic pride match up tae yer national yin

an dinnae leave litter ahint ye

oan the streets we aa share

dinnae pit yer feet oan seats

that erses o yer fella citizens

have tae sit oan;

gie yer bawbees tae wee howffs that arnae globalised.

Gin A’m refused whit a  propone,

A’ll claim ma due –

a quid

a silken goun

mibbe a dizzen pairs of gloves

or even a cut o claith for a skirt.

Here’s tae us! Wha’s like us? 

Gey near aabody.

Irene Brown