birthday wishes

And you will be singing very loudly in my heart tomorrow, as you do every day 🙂

Has planet Earth tilted some more?

From friend & blogger Dominique Walterson – no wonder we are out & about this July 🙂

révolution

Bastille Day – a warm blue sky shines above my head on this very day, there is a sense of freedom, filled with birdsong, a gentle breath of SW’Lies… wonder day 🙂 Once a  prison as well as a symbol of oppression where folk ended up (included Voltaire himself!) in the face of utter despotism, the name “Bastille” is remembered as a symbol for a people’s uprising  against injustice, and is today an Opera. I think monsieur Voltaire would applaud to this 🙂

On this 14 July, my much more humble (and yet state-of-the-art) arts’ venue, Mareel,  is hosting the Shetland leg of Auld Enemies – the brainchild of poets Steven J Fowler & Ryan Van Winkle – in which tourist and local poets will set fire to Shetland with groundbreaking work, and we intend to have a blast!

As presented by Shetland Arts: a transnational poetry collaboration where six poets will work in rolling pairs to produce original works for readings across the breadth of Scotland. Each event will also feature numerous pairs of writers from the region, who will be presenting brand new poetry collaborations as well. Auld Enemies is a groundbreaking exploration of contemporary Scottish poetics through the potential of collaboration.

Featuring poets:

– Ross Sutherland
– Nick-e Melville
– Colin Herd
– SJ Fowler
– Ryan Van Winkle,
– Nat Hall
– James Sinclair
– Donald Murray
– Laura Jayne Friedlander & more

Auld Enemies is fundamentally about the creation of new collaborative works and the integration of differing poetic communties, and has only been possible through the generosity of a series of organisational partners, first and foremost Creative Scotland but also the Scottish Poetry Library, Literary Dundee, Summerhall, Shetland Arts, the Orkney Islands Council and Northlink Ferries.

The vibes so far are just thrilling to hear. We are next!

So, if you are still without a ticket for this free event, grab one at the Mareel Box Office!

We are looking forward to seeing you tonight 🙂

website update

At last, nordicblackbird / the roost is duly updated 🙂

 

Go check Writer’s Corner as summer is a season tainted by events & projects.

 Upcoming:

Auld Enemies, 14 July 2014 at Mareel, Lerwick, Shetland

 

Happy reading! 🙂

Werewulf

Without question, verse from the dark side of the moon, as I spend moments inside black, in contemplation with absence – in meditation with a question mark.

How do you deal with solitude?
The other day in the classroom, I stared at Morgan’s poetry, stapled among a sea of blue background paper.
There, a carefully cut hyena, with a few lines from his poem.

And then, this line – I am the slave of darkness. The rest emerged from my black pen…

Whereas, part one deals with such folklore creature, part two & three zoom in further into fur & animal print.

This triptych is entitled:Werewulf

With grateful thanks to Edwin Morgan’s Hyena.

1.
Late old English.

I am darkness,
I am the dark side of the blue,
I am so afraid of colours,
I am the killer of
purple,
crimson,
twilight –

I am the howler,
moon’s
hunter,

I am the sharp ivory fangs

I am the saliva heaver,
I am orange eyed inside black,
I am the hunchback of bleak lands,
where heather burns but never blooms;

I am manimal nocturnal,
the outsider with
chiselled
claws,

I am intruder in
your
dreams,

I am the slave in darkness

——-
2.
Wolverine

heavily built,
short-legged meat eater with
a long coat, brown in
colour,
winter-eyed,
bushy-tailed –
native to
tundra & forests,

Gulo gulo,
deep inside white.

———-
3.
dactylogram

an impression of five fingers
on a rock face,
heather,
icecap
or
fresh
snowflakes,

digital dream,
a signature left to
ponder,

dactylographic formula.

© Nat Hall 2014