Highways and Byways: Scots’ Dike

By Maik Strosahl

I came across the term “Debatable Lands” in late 2020 and wondered if it could be used to illustrate the political turmoil we all witnessed here in the United States. So, I chased one of my rabbit holes to see where it went.
    The Debatable Lands were an area of dispute along the English and Scottish border. For many years, rievers – raiders of livestock – plundered the farms of the area, a lawless region run by several clans, one of note being the Armstrongs. Throughout time, both the Scots and the English tried to bring the lands under their rule, but it wasn’t until the 1500s that the land and their peoples were tamed. Scots’ Dike became the official border of the two countries.
    My chase did not result in a political poem, rather it led to a play on the sounds of words and the differences in language, telling the history of another chaotic time, another land divided.


The Rievers flow
over battable land
from the Solway Firth
inland to the Muckle toon of Langholm,
four hills in the Esk valley and
home of Clan Armstrong.
The wool grows thick on plunder
as they graze the threap grasses
of the Liddell and the Sark.

The queens of Scot,
the kings from London
brought their laws and order
to be ignored throughout these Debatable Lands
until Johnny of Gilnockie
and thirty-one hanged
at the Chapel Caerlanrig,
declaring all discussion void –
their lines drawn into the land
where the rievers once roamed,
where the waters still run wild.

Copyright © 2021 by Maik Strosahl Michael E. Strosahl has focused on poetry for over twenty years, during which time he served a term as President of the Poetry Society of Indiana. He relocated to Jefferson City, Missouri, in 2018 and currently co-hosts a writers group there.