da pressit muse

De Gab o May? Perhaps.
Needin a stavaig ,we took da draatsie's wie
doon tae the shore e die.
Muckle shoor-heids,
chaffie-seks stuffed wi rain, soar  abune the toon.


The Bodach  tho is keen tae be awie.
Fegs, he disnae mind a drookin.
Near Caldwell ,we gae bye a Sycamore,
in bud-brak, leaves, freesh opened, silk-saft, crumpled, 
waitin fir the flux o sap; a spangling o
Pink Purslane anunder its lichened boughs.


Through the slap and doon
past a hedge
o wind trimmed May, (nae blossom yet)
and planted White-beam saplins,
a Roddie or twa, and Bourtree.
On the ither side
o the loan the intense coconut
scent  o Gorse floors.

Bye the bruxed
style, we watch a pale,  sandy
coated hare, maist prabablie, a Jill.
Soon, she feeds a haresbreeth
awie fae us: nervously, lightly,
pickin her wie delicately
amang  the meedo rashes.

She his an ancient face, this Lang Lugs
lit by deep atavistic fires.
Luik tae close
intil the furnace o a hare's eye
, is tae risk  faain intil
a clivvie o enchantment
It's a lang wie doon.


The burn e day
threeds its wie doon through
a rich braidcloth
woven wi gowds and greens and reids:
Marsh marigolds, buttery Primroses,
Reid campion, Seggie-spears,
the delicate mauvy blues o Gowk-floor.

Whaur it braids o'er the ford
stanes da burn sings, murmurs, plays wi licht
and soond.

Whaur the banks are steeper
and beasts excluded, trees re-assert
themselves and we pass doon through
a sheltered dale, wooded wi'   Willows,
Alder, Birks
Aspen and Hazel.

The scrub Willows
are in floor and the catkins
are a -buzz wi haists o bees: honey
bumble and peedie solitary bees; a'
hairstin pollen

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Grimmlins bee...
Da Mune's bowat
her only licht

..it wis great meetin
you in the street the ither day
hearin a your news, de new ootfit...weel!
No, I'm nae bein "bliddy cheeky"
and no , I dinnae ken
fan we'll get away for a luik sooth wirsels

Wir scunnered o a this bliddy hoose-hunting.
We gied tae look at a peedie bit o but
and ben de ither day in Birsay.
O'er a hunner-thoosand
for a rickle o stanes and widwormy wood
that I widnae keep a hen in!
The warld's
gied gyte!

"It's the market, it's the market"
mantras wir freendly estate agent; "market forces"
purrs the syrupy solicitor chiel in his fancy
office; "chust pay me the siller" sings Sam-the-surveyor
(who his seen this hoose several times, nae
doobt.)


Hoo's the scrievan comin at? I really
liked the poem you e-mailed.
Tae my surprise and delicht ,I came across
twa buiks by Cree makar : Louise Bernice Haffe*
in toon de ither day.

Her verse is sublime in spirit but viscerally blunt
in terms o subject matter.
That is, dear freend,it gar'd me think;
nae fir de faint-hearted, baith buiks
deal in a brutally frank wie
mony aspects o Cree history
white oppression and her ain ,often searing,
family experience.
Art should mak us feel discomforted.

If ye think this his naethin
tae de wi Orkney then chust consider
oor ain forbears involvement in
de Nor Wast,de Orcadian traders and
trappers who worked de great rivers
o the Cree lands on behalf o de Hudson's Bay Company,
and left their banes, names
and genes ahint.

Here's a peedie fargment fae "Blue Marrow"

We are here.
Here.
Here
Patience,
nitansiak. My Daughters.
We will speak.
We will fill each leaf
Pages of song.
We will be the Loon
in broad daylight
moaning Spring.
The Deer that rattles her bones.
We will come.
Offer us tobacco,
smudge with Sage.
Sit and cry in the Lodge
,let your body grovel
let thirst fill your mouth.
We will hold you.
We will fill your lungs.
We will be there.
Sleep.

For a moving acoont o an Orcadian
lass's contemporary expedition to find and meet her
Cree relatives try:
http://www.orcadian.co.uk/features/articles/kimtwatt.htm

We hid a peedie
run oot tae Dinghieshowe
on Sunday. De wund
hid faain awie tae a lambsbreeth
and the
sea wis like a siller
keekin-glass,
hid was that still

We watched an
Immer Goose playin wie a peedie
Flattie it hid chust caught. The
fish's bodie glittered
in de sunlicht like
a siller leaf kything
in de air as it struggled tae be free
fae the Loon's muckle neb

::::::::::::::::


Louise Halfe's books are:
Blue Marrow Coteau Books(2005)
Bear Bones & Feathers Coteau Books(1994)
::::::::::::::::


Deerness Haiku


Wast wind...
da graceful scrieven
o girse apo de sheld-brecks.

It wis
something she said...I hiv
a defenite bairn-mind
o seein a sea horse
amang the
glimmerin taing and stanes
and shalls o that
peedie bit o shore
atween the Double Hooses
and Ness.

Its bade wie
with me in the kist
o the memory a these years.
We hid been yappin
aboot Pictish beasts
and hoo their images
were used e'day by makars
and ithers tae sell a'thing
fae soused herrins tae lug-rings.
That's the modern wie: ruthless appropriation
o the past.

I telt her I thowt
that maist o the
(so-ca'd)sea horse images
were ambiguous composites
,mixter-maxters,o various craturs
imagined and real. The
Cailleach disputes this strongly.

If you hae the time tae
follow this up there is
an interesting newish paper on Pictish iconogarphy
and the sea; it may be seen
on line at:
http://www.mun.ca/mst/heroicage/issues/8/cessford.html

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Hid wis kinda muggrifou
on Saturday fan we set aff for
the Hope, bid hid soon cleared up.
We stopped for a peedie
stravaig o'er the Sands o Wright and tae
let the Bodach hae a run.
The licht was breethtakingly bonnie.
The stanes amang the rullyo there
are some of the maist varied
we ken o in Orkney and we niver weary
o seekan for unusual anes.

Tae her delight,
the Cailleach foond a peedie
pipe fish amangst
the tide wrack. Hid's bodie
hid been dried by the wind
and sun intae a gracefu
curve.
Pipefishes, like Sea-horses,
tae which they are closely related,are unusual beasties;
males tak on the care
o the fertilized eggs.

The Bodach bein kinda fwam
and content tae bide in the car
wi gied on
up the brae tae tak a peep at the exquisite
tapestries in The Hoxa Tapestry Gallery.
We marvelled at a the wark and
inspiration which
hid gone intae these large scale,very poetic,
and vibrant evocations o the sea and landscape
o Orkney. Well worth a visit!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Birsay Haiku


Sickle mune
a dream o Queena
in drifts o siller primroses

Na..I didnae hear
onythin back fae the pooers-that-be
aboot the Deerness banes wi
fund. I wid hae been
as good e-mailin mysel!

Ach ,I ken, but there's nae pint 'n
in beein too scunnert.
Nae doot,
they were a' far tae dieved wi wark
tae bither.

But mind, we jaloused at the time,
that the banes
were mair'n like human
and, fae the wie they hid been kisted
in da reid clay o de seabank,
alang, an east- wast line
, that they wir, the remains,
maist prabablie, o' a Christian body.

Aifter deein a bit o' dellin
on my ain accoont ower Easter.
I hid a chance-peek
at a braw new buik on sale in the toon
which hid an interestin paper
on the Medieval buryin grund
at Newark...aye just far
wi saw the banes erodin oot o' de bank;
and it seems mair'n likely
that the remains we fund thon gustery
day in April
belanged tae this steid, and
its associated Chapel.

Gie'n the swap
o'easterlies wiv hid o late they've
mair'n like been teen by the sea by noo.

Oniewie, the buiks ca'd:
"The world of the Orkneyinga Saga:the Broad-
Cloth Viking Trip";edited
by Olwyn Owen,
and the relevant chapter:
"Life and death in the time
of the sagas" is by Dr Theya
Molleson fae the Britsh Museum.

She taks a detailed and fascinating
luik at the forensic pathology
o the banes archaeologists
hiv recovered fae the Newark
steid o'er the years.
Life wisnae
easy for wir medieval
forefolks

Weel warth luikan a'thegither
for an updated account o the Islands
in the time o da Sagas.

If you're interested
in some o the ethical issues
relating tae the archaelogical
collection o human remains
there wis an intereestin program
on the wireless(Beeb R4)
the ither day...you may be able
to hear it again by
takkin this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/trenchwarfare




Tak care.

:::::::::::::

Aikerness Haiku

bairn's kite
tullieton on a tow o
larksang

Aye aye...I'm richt
blide y'enjoyed
your visit tae the De Lucca site.

Onie thochts as tae whit
my favourite poem wis?

Ah! "Da Cockle Shall":
I chist luved the wie
she interwove the metaphor
o the shall lace pattern
intae the sea and place imagery
o that wee pairt o Shetland.

Hoo did Bag the Bruck go?
I ken, I meant tae
tak pairt, bit
my knee wis playin up again
and I wid hae been mair
o hindrance than a help.

Scapa wis clean a new preen
on Sunday morning and
we saw muckle mounds
o' de green bruck saicks
a' ower the East Mainland .
Y'must have been
fair breeksed aifterwards. Weel dune!

Oot stavagin wi the Bodach,
on Tuesday, we saw twa swallows
skimmin oe'r warebalks at Scapa. Shore
flies a plenty there fir maet.

Fegs-
tae think that twa-three weeks syne
they wid hae been flyin
o'er African skys

On the wie hame,
in ane o Crantit's rashy parks,
three hares(twa Jacks and a Jill)
were coortin-gyte. Hare
luve is a gey roch business.

Scapa Haiku

stravagin
a'tween hares and teeicks
the west wind

...its a'richt. I'm happy tae admit that I was wrang and you were
richt. Bit whit's new? It wis chust great hearin Christine De Luca on the wireless last week spikan wi Finnish makar Rina Katajavuori(Beeb R4 in "With love from me to you"); a' the mairso 's I hid chist feenished Christine's buik: Wast wi da Valkyries last week! I hid ma doots initially, whether the notion o' bringin twa poets (presumably relative strangers) t' gither in a dramatised e-mail exchange wid wark, but it did, and I loved the wie Christine read her poems.
I ken your deeved wi' wark but if you have a meenit or twa tae spare you can hear Christine readin some of her makins at the following link: "http://www.christinedeluca.co.uk">

Stromness April 2006
Craw-steps
abune flags polished
wi auld blether