On the 27th of January 1974 in the midst of a raging storm, the MV Captayannis sunk in the River Clyde with its cargo of sugar. The crew were rescued, but the ship itself could not be saved after rolling over onto her side on a sand bar. I was about one and a half at the time, but somehow I can vividly remember being taken down to the shore by my uncle and grandpa to see the wreck in the days that followed the storm.
I had the idea for this poem in early December 2015 when it felt like the festive period had been going on for far too long already. The intention was to sound as if I was being a big spoilsport and hating on Xmas, before turning around to show I was just excited that Burns’ season was upon us.
When I showed it to him, my friend Degsy helped with the wording of the first verse, as the original version was a bit awkward to say out loud, even if it read okay. That’s a trap I’m getting better at avoiding, but here I welcomed his feedback and I think I fixed it.
My target audience were the cronies at Glasgow Haggis Club, so I read it as part of my turn at the first meeting of 2016 and it appeared to be well received.