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Govan rent strike rattle

Govan rent strike rattle

Christine Finn writes about Mary Barbour's rattle, which you can see in the Scotland: A Changing Nation gallery on Level 6.

Mary Barbour's Rattle

Can you hear it yet?

The rioty past
of its hand-waxed
handle

Rattety, rattety

Crank turns, wood aligns,
sound alarms

Rattety, rattety

Mary’s army,
holding the fort,
with the men off
fighting

Rattety, rattety

Sounding the rattle,
they ratted on bailiffs

Rata-tat-tat

intent on evictions
from trench-dreamed
hearth-sides

Rattety, rattety! the Govan artillery

Ratta–ratta -tatt! the echo back.

About the author

Christine Finn

Christine Finn writes for radio, reportage and also poetry.

“I like working with science and intuition, visceral things and the traces of lost objects... I want to respond to a treasure more poetically.”

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What are these links?

Govan rent strike rattle

On display

  • Scotland: A Changing Nation

Creation story

  • Govan rent strike rattle

About the author

  • Christine Finn's website

 

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National Museums Scotland, Scottish Charity, No. SC 011130