There are fewer gaps on those shelves now, and I’ve even reached the point of adding layers, but what are you going to do when the world is full of interesting people writing so much inspiring stuff? One of the main reasons for reviving tis blog was so I could point anyone who might be interested in the direction of my latest discoveries, so here we go.

Misleadingly, it’s all online this time. First is a long and heavily academic article by James Paz: Storm-thoughts and ice-songs:
A creative-critical response to Old English eco-poetry

This is one for geopoetics people, eco-poets or fans of Old English poetry. It deals with the attitude of early English writers to the natural environment, pointing out that the modern division of ‘human’ and ‘natural’ didn’t really exist, and seeing the human psyche ‘imbricated’ in the natural world, shaped by it and responding to it in a way that is very different from our use of nature as metaphor. It reminds me of Lorca’s understanding of ‘duende’. For a working poet, it disappoints that he doesn’t make much comparison with the practice of contemporary poets, though Alice Oswald gets a mention. Susan Richardson and Jen Hadley have a lot to contribute to this topic – and of course, I’ve written relevant poems and discussed it a little myself! All the same, this article is grounded in a wealth of thinking and writing that I will be following up for a long time.

Then a blog from an artist known as Quinie. She is a multi-disciplinary artist and singer who sings Scots song and makes work exploring language, landscape, tradition, identity, and alternative histories. She has a record (yes, really, a vinyl LP) out called Forefolk, Mind Me, exploring travellers’ songs and the tradition of diddling and canntaireachd, but her blog is also a fascinating discussion of music, culture, tradition and place. The album is fab too.