feature

How I love this statement 🙂
So true!

featured at the Federation of Writers (Scotland), with grateful & graceful thanks to Anne Clark & Ian Noble’s relentless efforts on giving exposure to the many creative voices all around Scotland, including those from remote rocks & skerries. Am thrilled & humble 🙂

Trans-Atlantic adventure

Such a lovely memento from Nela Rio, Fredericton, New Brunswick – with renewed thanks to Joe Blades fae BJP. 🙂
L’aventure continue!

poetry without frontiers

For the second year running, selected verse will be read & displayed on the other side of the Atlantic, closer to the lips of the Chocolate River, as a piece, previously featured on the blog, will feature at this year’s Poetry Reading in Fredericton.

I am infinitely grateful to Joe Blades & Nela Rio for exposing my work.
This piece remains very close to my heart 🙂

message from a(nother) bottle

I love how bottles reach my shore through time. Here, a new message from Canada.

FROM INSIDE THE BOTTLE

With kind thanks to its author, Debbie Okun Hill 🙂

geopoetics in action

Funny how a cold can keep you out of bed.  Here, here, a final post before Dreamtime,

with a concept deeply rooted in my head. That of geopoetics in action. Whereas Humblyband has kept me alert a great part of the evening, poetry submission now lies in the very good hands of friend & fellow poet Elizabeth Rimmer, c/o the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics for the next issue of its yearly journal, Stravaig.

But other verse has now found its curator within ArtiPeeps as part of Transformations for the next instalment of contemporary poetry inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

And, as my eyes & heart wanders across the Atlantic, I discover this. 🙂

Wow, geopoetics in action!

flashback

Looking back, listening back. I treasure this moment forever. Emotions in an eclectic bouquet. Faces, eyes, smiles. Known, unknown. Full house. And still some trying to get in… Darkish venue, with lights mounted on the wall on either side of the white screen. Steve’s magical accordion, Alan’s guitar to set the tone. And Joe’s soft voice, reassuring.

Here, here, FROM SHORE TO SHOORMAL BOOK LAUNCH on 1 September 2013

As if you were here / comme si vous y étiez 🙂

va et vient

As November unleashes its cargo of gales, here , two new pieces for your eyes – fresh from the pen, they will take you across the mighty Atlantic.

Old Guards’ Line

Inside blue boreal forest,
fireweed,
hidden gem,
dreams under northern lights,
coniferous silence,
in between
bogs and fens –
lone army of
Jackpines,
so heavily mantled,
stand as giant chessmen
from Newfoundland & Labrador to
the last rocks of Alaska.

—————–

Day of The Gale

Semantics from the SW sky
ruffles feathers as
salt buds fly –
curlews,
shalders, gulls,
sanderlings, purple
sandpipers on one leg
will bite the verve, dust, sleaze & lies
from this hissing storyteller.
Taste of salt plastered
on your lips.

© Nat Hall 2013

————————– Nov 2013

and from canada

 http://artseast.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/from-shore-to-shoormal.html

thank you for a great, eloquent book review, Arts East 🙂

in passing

 Not miles, but metres separate Mareel from the Hay’s Dock Café.

What a better way to enjoy a blustery Sunday afternoon but with friends and good live music?

Such was my treat earlier on this afternoon, as Debbie and I reconvened to meet with Dorothy and The Donald Anderson Band inside the Shetland Museum’s  lavish & gourmet restaurant. The boys had decided to make it their venue for a splash of performance whilst raising funds for Multiple Sclerosis (MS). So they plugged in their guitars and lashed on with style and flair.

This was the second time I actually watched the band live. Donald’s songwriting talent is maturing like a fine malt. On the road as a quartet since 2005, our four accomplished musicians delighted a crowd of connoisseurs ( who came to sample music as  well as gastronomy!) Donald, Duncan, Alan and Rick feel as filskit (energetic) live as a gang of teenagers. Though very refined and polished musically 🙂

Here, in passing – do not miss them out should you cross their path!

HIGHLY ENJOYABLE and RECOMMENDED.

Rick Nickerson (NS, Canada)

Alan McKay (Shetland)

in full swing

Donald Anderson

Duncan Kidson (N Yorks)

poet’s voice

Donna in her own voice –

Here,

listen to the the Canadian side, in her own words, thanks to soundcloud.

Her side of the shore for you to enjoy. I still remember each line, as an earthly communion with each gentle leaping of tiny waves on the sand. Now it is recorded for posterity. Thank you, D, for such a gift 🙂