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Jul, Yule

     There is magic around every solstice & equinox. 

This year’s winter solstice is no different. I must thank my angels. On this occasion, he has a very earthly name, as Andy, for opening an unexpected door…

Andy is better known in WordPress as City Jackdaw. A fine poet, the  writer and fellow blogger, he is also an author & a friend.

Andy, THANK YOU ☺️ 

My poetry has now a home. Nordicblackbird has found her roost.

How magical and somewhat surreal to know a friendship struck in such way would lead to be united & bound by a same publishing house.

I feel ever so humble. 

What a wonderful Yule present 🙂

My forthcoming break (starting tomorrow afternoon) is all sorted out: that first manuscript will reach the Norwegian capital! 

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environmental

Power of place, 

Because we live on an extraordinary planet, we celebrate her poetics.

Kindred spirit & Environmental artist, Ruth Macdougall, toils inside the same streamline 🙂

Here, her website

   

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noir

   “Turn off the light, switch on a starry night…”

Noir, as November might predict. And if winter makes us reflect upon the dead, it is a time for us, living, to remember light in darkness. 

Under that category, the world could feel a frozen garden. Whereas sleet, hail and snow batter the island in a horizontal manner, people fall, cry, fight wherever human bestiality strikes. The horrors of terrorism bear so many faces & masks.   

Humanity feels in a state of emergency. 

Our planet, our homeworld, our cradle of life, will turn our grave. This is Noir, without fiction. 

Have we forgotten who we are, and where we live?   

Are we missing the boat? Are we too shackled to money to risk such perilous gambling? On reading the French press, we are heading towards our end. 

Noir,

Le Point.fr – COP21 : les lignes rouges des pays-clés dans les négociations.

Tour d’horizon des points de blocage pour chacun des pays les plus influents pour la conclusion d’un accord sur le climat à Paris.

Le Point newspaper reads noir. As if we were doomed like the lost civilisations who were incapable to save themselves in ancient times. It tastes rotten deep in my heart. Maybe a handful of humans are solely blindly driven by greed and are prepared to take that road. Gosh,  how selfish and masochistic. Do they know there is no way back, and nowhere else to go? This alone would feel a crime against humanity.

   

Talking of crime, Shetland hosted its first literary Noir Festival in November, as part of Iceland Noir.

   For a weekend, selected authors gathered at Mareel, and shared with the public. Helmed by friend & fellow Westside Writer Marsali Taylor, we grabbed the oar and added a rivet to clinker by launching our unique noir anthology, as part of a book launch event shared with Marsali’s latest crime fiction opus. On a more personal note, and with the Beyrout & Paris shootings in the backdrop, it felt a very strange weekend.  

Noir as man’s brilliance & blindness. 

Noir is a path I do not like by nature. It feels sordid and dangerous.

When I think Noir, movies like Sir Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner & Luc Besson’s (satyrical) Fifth Element come to my mind. 

I can only hope we are not heading into total blackness. 

Hello, Earth 

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Alfheim: Movement and Light 3/4 The Nine Realms- Poems and Writing

Ninth & final realm – Alfheim, in excellent company, as usual 🙂

ArtiPeeps

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The Nine Realms

9 months, 19 poets and writers, 22 Artists, 3 composers, 1 Viking boat: a magical reworking of Norse Mythology for contemporary audiences

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Alfheim

(the realm of the Elves)

Featuring:

Nat Hall, Lenka Monk and Jim C Mackintosh

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Guardian Angel from the Ninth Realm

by Nat Hall

.
You,
luminous loving being,
so much more than a thousand suns in
darkest corner of my head,
you are sensitive to
my tears,
so far away from fern, foliage,
evergreen feel of
thick forest,
Light Bokeh style –
the untouched side of Freyr’s world…
To
avoid eyes,
hiss and whisper from
haunting mare,
my mantelpiece littered with stones
I once collected from a now
dormant volcano where
hardened rock dances with salt,
leaping fury from young ocean,
I light candles night after night,
chisel your smile out of cold wax, and
seek wisdom out of
a match.
You,
luminous loving being,

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The Nine Realms Update #6: July

Latest update from #theninerealms’ project curator

ArtiPeeps

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June seems to have sped by and a lot has been going on in relation to The Nine Realms. All the poetry is now in, with over 80 + poems being created over the 9 months. 40 poems have now been selected for the experience itself.  The realm poetry for Alfheim is still being posted out on ArtiPeeps on a weekly basis. With all the poetry from the  ninth realm in it has meant that we could crack on with:

1. The DVD

Over the last month and a half we have had 10 editing sessions with the sound technician at Future Radio.

Putting all the audio, realm music and art together in a multi-media format has taken more time than I anticipated. However, what has been created is unique, and the music fits the poetry perfectly. I have to say that this project feels like it was meant to…

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July 8, 2015 · 1:38 pm

The Art of Storytelling: Norse Sagas from Millfield School Pupils #3

Third of the the series by our younglings tied to #theninerealms

ArtiPeeps

IMG_0799 Image by Nat Hall

photo

Year 9: Norse Sagas

Featuring

Martha

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Our Year 9 pupils have studied the craft of story-telling, and what better way to learn than by reading the Norse sagas, with their epic storylines and memorable characters? We gave them a brief to create their own variations on the Norse saga, drawing upon the old tales for inspiration, but taking them into new territory. Everyone in the English teaching team was impressed by the boldness and skill of the stories our young pupils wrote. Here is [ part 1 of ] a small selection. I hope you enjoy them. Our thanks go to Nicky for giving Millfield pupils such an exciting platform for their creative writing!

James Baddock

Head of English, Drama & Media
Millfield, Somerset, UK

ArtiPeeps has been thrilled to have  Millfield’s pupils working in tangent with one of our projects (The Nine Realms), and…

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The Art of Storytelling: Norse Sagas from Millfield School Pupils #1

First instalment of creative language from pupils in conjunction with #theninerealms

ArtiPeeps

IMG_0799 Image by Nat Hall

photo

Year 9: Norse Sagas

Featuring

Olivia and Natasha

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Our Year 9 pupils have studied the craft of story-telling, and what better way to learn than by reading the Norse sagas, with their epic storylines and memorable characters? We gave them a brief to create their own variations on the Norse saga, drawing upon the old tales for inspiration, but taking them into new territory. Everyone in the English teaching team was impressed by the boldness and skill of the stories our young pupils wrote. Here is [ part 1 of ] a small selection. I hope you enjoy them. Our thanks go to Nicky for giving Millfield pupils such an exciting platform for their creative writing!

James Baddock

Head of English, Drama & Media
Millfield, Somerset, UK

ArtiPeeps is thrilled to be having Millfield school working in tangent with one of our projects (The Nine…

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The Art of Storytelling: Norse Sagas from Millfield School Pupils #2

Creative Writing from “the Younglings” #theninerealms

ArtiPeeps

IMG_0799 Image by Nat Hall

photo

Year 9: Norse Sagas

Featuring

Reanna and Harriet

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Our Year 9 pupils have studied the craft of story-telling, and what better way to learn than by reading the Norse sagas, with their epic storylines and memorable characters? We gave them a brief to create their own variations on the Norse saga, drawing upon the old tales for inspiration, but taking them into new territory. Everyone in the English teaching team was impressed by the boldness and skill of the stories our young pupils wrote. Here is [ part 1 of ] a small selection. I hope you enjoy them. Our thanks go to Nicky for giving Millfield pupils such an exciting platform for their creative writing!

James Baddock

Head of English, Drama & Media
Millfield, Somerset, UK

ArtiPeeps is thrilled to be having Millfield school working in tangent with one of our projects (The Nine…

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Midgard: Survival and Destruction 3/4 The Nine Realms- Poems and Writing

Keeping up with #theninerealms – realm 8, Midgard, the one before that of the elves, in the caring hands of @Artipeeps

ArtiPeeps

nine realms8

The Nine Realms

9 months, 19 poets and writers, 22 Artists, 3 composers, 1 Viking boat: a magical reworking of Norse Mythology for contemporary audiences

.

Midgard

(the realm of the people)

Featuring:

Nat Hall, Tom Murphy and Joanna Lee

Tun & Scattald

by Nat Hall

.

Garth,
fae da Old Norse,
an arrangement of long houses with 
smoky stacks,
where farmers grind their
daily grain,
man’s wheel of life around
fire, sun and
seasons,
Voar-Simmer-Hairst [1]
to tame the land,
plant-grow-harvest
before black
leanness
of
winter. 
Around
this lush realm for mortals,
they build their ting [2]
and chamber 
cairns, [3]
harvest from the sea & the land –
scrutinise waves & horizon from
basalt edges of
old rocks,
share
their home with
wandering dead in between
stars & Northern lights.
On either side of
dry stone wall,
tun and scattald [4]
feel a safe 
world:
a
place to be born…

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Wisdom: -)

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