We are never fully aware of things until they skelp (slap) you in the face.
My first drive back north to catch the sunset at Mavis Grind – the gateway to Northmavine, the north end of the main island – turned far darker as I caught windfarm ground work in progress with trucks at rest at the foot of hills along the A970 off Sandwater Loch. My heart sank. So far, I had only gazed at stills and drone footage in social media… All of the sudden, it became real.
For years, I have marvelled at Central Mainland – Sandwater, Kergord, da Lang Kames… Nesting, Voe – legendary places of wilderness teeming with rich and varied life. For years, we have been wrestling with a nightmare that will change life and lives – wild as well as human – forever.
For years, I have walked the shore and shared it openly: take a picture of it all before it is changed for ever.
Yet instead of the expected pictures taken from the roadside, I thought of friend & artist Paul Bloomer’s current project entitled Shadowed Valley.
Whilst Paul has been developing his response on canvas through the main medium of charcoal, selected recent pieces of his work struck me over recent time.
In turn, I am expressing in words as my response to his work. With gracious thanks, Paul, for your kindness & powerful work.
Da Death Valley
Winds of change,
listen to the silent valley.
Through the darklands we now wander –
round da paets’ broos, where
whimbrels nest,
gigantic claws obey men’s will;
among heather & crowberries where
merlins hide their love and genes,
metallic claws slash & plunder deep through
this land where
redshanks call, protect their youngs between a loch and
Peta’s print,
way past the ridges of wir Kames,
Lottie’s Half-Way Hoose and
Nesting.
Shackled men to demon-money only
see gold, far away vaults,
far too oblivious to
ravens,
whimbrels, merlins or
mystic mountain hares, Heather Ling or rich purple bells,
the divine sanctuary of life.
Men dunna ken,
they come with trucks as giant claws rage through wir laand,
rape in peace to satisfy needs
whilst
nearby folk dread the shadows of longer blades,
Don Quixote’s nightmare
far north.
© Nat Hall 2020
Poet’s Notes
da paets’ broos: (Shetland dialect) the edge of eroded peat (turf); da Laang Kames (place-name): the long valley shaped from Sandwater Loch to the Village of Voe and Nesting area; Peta: (from O.N. & Shetland folklore) name given to a giant that fell asleep in the valley of da Laang Kames; “Men dunna ken”: (from Shetland dialect) expression meaning “people don’t know”; wir laand: our homeland.
nordicblackbird 