I’ve had a busy week! On Thursday, I was at Natural Callander, an event in the Callander Summerfest, reading poems on the theme of the natural world alongside my friends Sally Evans, Charlie Gracie, and Helen McLaren, and with additional poems from George Colkitto, Finola Scott, Ann Murray and people who had attended a workshop during the afternoon. It was held in a beautiful airy room in the Callander Hostel – a great night, with excellent readings and a warm (really, it was before the rain, and we were boiling! but also metaphorically) receptive audience.
On Saturday I was at the Pamphlets Pimms and Periodicals event at the Scottish Poetry Library, where we had a fair for all the small presses producing innovative and beautiful magazines and pamphlets. I was there mostly to promote the Scottish Pamphlet Poetry Facebook page, which is a place for poets and publishers to share their news and events. Small presses are at the cutting edge of publishing, a sound way for emerging or experimental poets to test their work, but opportunities to see the range of what’s on offer are few. We are hoping that having a common space to share our news will help raise awareness of what they do. You will find many photos of the event on the facebook page, but I will share this beautifully curated table, from Julie Johnstone’s Essence Press.
I was also selling copies of The Charm of Nine Herbs translation which I did last year, and taking sign-ups for my newsletter, and had some very interesting conversations with people on the subject of herbs, traditional knowledge, and nature writing, particularly by women. It seems there is a serious demand for this kind of writing, and I am giving some serious thought, not only to my own work, but to furthering the writing of other people in this area, perhaps by running workshops, perhaps in some other way. I have had a few warnings to take care of my health lately, so this might be a slow process, but it will happen in some form. There will be a newsletter soon, in which I will explore options, and ask for feedback.
Yesterday was our wedding anniversary, and we took a trip to see the Poetry Path at Corbenic. There are some beautiful sculptures there – here is one holding a fragment of poetry by Chris Powici,
and here is one with poetry by Anne Connolly,
but I have to admit, I am very excited by this one:
my own poem, Ivy, from Wherever We Live Now. The group of young sculptors who created some of the pieces you see along the path are coming to create a setting for it this summer, and I’ll post a picture as soon as I have one.
It’s back to auld claes and parritch now, as I have a lot of editing in hand, but this has been a week to remember!