How the poem is written

Structure and sound

The poem is carefully written in a phonetic version of the Glasgow accent. If you pronounce it exactly as it's written, it should sound more or less like a Glaswegian voice. Try to listen to Tom Leonard's own reading of this poem, which is on the BBC TV programme Roots and Water: Poems from Other Cultures and Traditions.

The lines of the poem are very short. What effect does this have (especially when you read it aloud)? Does it make the poem sound serious or amusing?

Language

The poet has played with language in a number of ways, apart from the phonetic spelling:

• There is almost no punctuation.
• There are lots of slang and colloquial words (scruff, belt up).
• The newsreader talks directly to the reader (or viewer).

How do these features add to the effectiveness of the poem? For example, there is a mismatch between the conventional image of BBC newsreaders, and what this one is saying - calling the viewers yoo scruffand telling them to belt up.