Downloadable pdf of Spaces Open: poems for West Port Garden

Give a woman a shovel
and she won’t hesitate
to halve a worm
— Saskia McCracken

The 12 are a collective of women writers – Tessa Berring, Anne-Laure Coxam, Lynn Davidson, Georgi Gill, Marjorie Lotfi, Jane Goldman, Saskia McCracken, Jane McKie, Theresa Muñoz, Em Strang, Alice Tarbuck, and JL Williams.

This poetry collection grew out of their visits to West Port Garden and learning about its origins. The garden was designed by Norah Geddes and became a green oasis amid Edinburgh’s Old Town slums.

Norah taught the city
how to soften itself
How to press itself
against the edges
and burst
— Tessa Berring