Cauld Kail an Custard
Listen to David and Granny Morning read David's poem ...
Cauld kail an custard,
Grannie’s awfie flustered;
stovies noo, in bramble stew,
dinna ken whit A can do;
A’m fit tae boak, A’m no that weel,
she’s bilin mince wi aipple peel;
tatties next, champit in jeelie‒
“Haud yer weesht, she’s ninety-three!”
Grannie’s awfie flustered;
stovies noo, in bramble stew,
dinna ken whit A can do;
A’m fit tae boak, A’m no that weel,
she’s bilin mince wi aipple peel;
tatties next, champit in jeelie‒
“Haud yer weesht, she’s ninety-three!”
A Glossary of Scottish Words:
kail - cabbage
awfie - rather
stovies - potatoes baked with
leftover scraps of meat and gravy
bramble - blackberry
dinna ken - don’t know
fit tae boak - feeling nauseous
tatties - potatoes
champit - mashed
jeelie - jam
haud yer weesht - shut up
This poem is copyright (©) David Bleiman 2023
About the Writer
David Bleiman
David is a grandfather and poet living in Edinburgh. He loves to write across the languages and his first pamphlet, This Kilt of Many Colours (Dempsey & Windle, 2021) is a multilingual mixter-maxter in English, Scots, Spanish and Yiddish. This celebration of David's Jewish heritage includes the prizewinning Trebbler's Tale, written in a partly excavated but largely reimagined lost dialect of Scots-Yiddish. With the sense of humour of an overgrown schoolboy, David is now writing childish poems for himself and other children.
