Available Here

Lock Doon Poyams is a debut collection of poems and a short story written during the Covid 19 lock down, though only a few are about the lock doon, and only one specifically mentions the “blasted bug.” The poems deal with the realities of life, educational underachievement and the challenges people face. But the poyams also draw inspiration from nature, wildlife and the seasons.

Lock Doon Poyams is written in the Hamely Tongue / Ulster Scots. Poetically the words and cadence of speech can be described as ‘Inver an Ollar wi aa touch oo Mo’side.’ The Inver River flows through Larne; the Ollar, the old name for the Sixmilewater River, flows through Ballyclare, Doagh and Templepatrick, and Mosside is in North Antrim, the home village of the author’s maternal grandmother. It is from these places the author’s residual understanding of Ulster Scots springs.

Robert Campbell is a native of East-Antrim. He has had a lifelong connection to, and interest in Ulster Scots. These poyams / poems are the result of his first sortie into the realms of poetry.