Scottish Book Tour: Scotland Ten Years On

My attempt at Substack didn't work, so I'll stick to notes there and my blog here. 

The sun's back. Two weeks ago I had solar panels installed and then Finland went into autumn mode with mists and overcast darkness. It's good to have this burst of sunlight to make the huge cost seem worthwhile. The cats and I have been recharging our batteries in pools of light, though the throw blanket has found it's way back to the couch. I'm not ready to turn the heat on yet. 

The trees are just starting to turn, hints of gold and red around the edges. We're about a month behind season-wise. I have pictures of the kids from past years, knee-deep in piles of leaves. Gold birch coins and mushrooms are just starting to sprinkle the lawn. 

My pictures also show the Scottish Independence Referendum from ten years ago, September 18. My social media is full of people remembering, many mourning the loss. It's still a blow, especially after Brexit and the recent mess in the Scottish Government. The possibility of independence seems further away than ever before. 

Speaking of Scottish, I'm still trying to work my way through the pile of books I bought this summer in Scotland. I picked up a few older books that I had never read, including Jackie Kay's Trumpet and some George Mackay Brown titles. 

I also tried John Burnside's Dumb House. I haven't been able to get through it. It reminds me a lot of The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks which I love. Burnside was a poet, novelist and editor who recently died and I had never read any of his work. But I couldn't get into this book, the main character is messed up. The book starts with him just saying that he's fed a set of twins poison, similar to Banks' character Frank announcing he'd killed three people so far in the opening scene. I couldn't find anything redeemable in the main character, even though the book tries to show the loss that led to his horrible actions. I may go back to it as it's impelling to find out about the twins, but I just can build up any sympathy for the main character. 

Trumpet, however, really builds empathy for the characters, Millie and Colman, the wife and son of a famous trumpeter Joss Moody who has just died. Joss's secret is out and his family are left to deal with the aftermath of the explosion left between them, Millie by hiding herself away and Colman by exploring his father's past with a journalist. Here the backstory doesn't truly explain Joss' choices but lays a foundation for the person he becomes. The writing is beautiful and quite raw with emotion, beautifully done.

And beautiful isn't quite the right adjective for George Mackay Brown's seminal novel Greenvoe. Wrapped in myth, landscape, history and humour, Greenvoe is a village full of character and characters set on an imaginary Orcadian island. Their secrets are all laid bare and knit into the village's spirit, Alice has seven children all named after the men she had affairs with, guileless Timmy buys his meths for his Tilley lamp, but everyone knows he drinks it himself and the school teacher impotently lusts after the ferryman who has his eye set on a bigger prize. Mackay Brown builds up a close-knit community that doesn't always have each others' best interests at heart. When modern incursions of an secret industry called Dark Star threaten the island, the villagers have little choice, but to accept their own natures. The writing is poetic, woven with sea and island culture. This is no surprise as Mackay Brown is also a brilliant poet. An absolute gem and I'm looking forward to my next book by Mackay Brown. 

It's been over ten years since I left Scotland and almost twenty since I completed my Masters in Scottish Literature and there's still so much to explore in its literature. 

No real news in my own writing. Moving forward slowly. 

If anyone is interested in Scots language, the Dictionary of the Scots Language has their own version of Wordle - https://www.macwordle.co.uk/ which is quite fun. 

Autumn's Brewing - Scotstober 2023 and When the Readers Don't Get A Poem

October is my month, my favourite month. Autumn in full swing, brazen colours and spice. Wet and slowing down. I bake, I cook, I begin to build a nest to hibernate in. It's also our autumn school holiday, so I've actually been able to do all those things which is more difficult when I'm working.

October is also #scotstober month. Scotstober is a challenge to learn and use a new Scots word every day. Here's the Twitter post for this year.  I love it, some are familiar to me, and some are new. I have done various takes on the challenge, sometimes finding poems that use the word, other times writing my own few lines. This year I'm doing the latter and creating a poem using some of the words. I can't keep up with all 31 words, but it's Day 22 and I have most of a poem written. 

As with most of my Scots poems, I prefer to use words I've heard in context or am comfortable with. Some words in the Scotstober challenge are older and not used much, so they don't feel right in my poems. So as I'm bringing this together as a poem, I'm changing some words to suit me. I'm grateful for the inspiration Scotstober brings.

Here's my Scotstober posts from my Mastadon and Twitter @grimalkingerry accounts. 

Day 20 and 22 - ablow and glower - below and to stare angrily.   

ah hunker doon ablow thi storm, 

thi glowerin cloods   

Day 13 fuil - a fool

a fuil thinkin

at thi year birls back on itsel

swallies its ain tail

ah micht hae growed ruits

but ahm no staundin still

Day 11 - marra - marrow

in mah marra ah ken this endin

it faws frae mah een,

frae thi birks an thi lift

an it faws tae me 

tae find mah new beginin.

Day 7 hunker - to stoop or to submit to one's circumstances

hunkerin doon aneath thi storm

bieldit but waws an a ruif 

arnae an acceptance o hame

Day 6 ettle - to try, to strive

ahm ettlin tae no sing thi same thrain,

but thi rain an its pebbly sklyter

drouns oot mah will

Day 5 faur - far

mah vizzie flits faur aff

intae thi next saison 

when gowd dees in cauld an banes

ruggin at thi braes

Day 4 - stamagast - astonished or disappointed

ahm stamagastert at thi leafs shift

ilka October, ilka year

thi claik lik a skelp av thi clock

Day 2 - doon - down

ahm fawin doon

wirds ah cannae unnerstaund

lik stanes in mah shoes

Day 1 - fain - happy or glad.

 

ah cannae pertend tae be fain

tae see thi snaw ootline thi trees

So I am writing, which I haven't really been doing lately. Not a lot, but a little bit as often as I can. However, the poems I've been working on haven't done too well when I've workshopped them with my main writers' group and another smaller online group I've joined. 

Sometimes I bring poems to workshop when I know there's something not right and I can't quite figure it out. A few sets of new eyes, often those who don't write poetry themselves, can help to unravel the problem. 

There's always a big pause after I read, but I'm used to that as poems can need more time to be digested than stories. But with one poem recently, the silence was longer than usual and weighted with the feeling of 'we don't get it' that I sometimes get when I read to this group. 

That's why I brought the poem, I was afraid it's too dense or obtuse, that the connections I've made are too close to my own thinking and not as obvious as I'd like for a public poem. So I get as much feedback as I can and then take it home and work on it. This particular poem has gone to the group twice and is still not hitting the mark. 

It's harder to get that dead silence when you think the poems are done, that they work. I had that happen in the online group with a poem I love and think works. It's not a subtle poem, I thought. There is an added layer if you know the book mentioned in the subtitle, but I didn't think it was necessary to the understanding. But they're not getting it and I now am debating whether I need to edit the poem and make it more obvious or hope that it's not as hidden as the readers suggest. 

I always tell the people I teach and other writers in writing groups that in the end the piece is your own, you make the changes you want. This doesn't always apply as fully when you want to get published, especially if you're working with an editor. The poem or story is leaving your side, it has to be able to exist on its own without follow-up questions. 

But you also don't want to spoon-feed the reader. I, at least, want them to work a little, to read closely, to make connections, to problem-solve the work. If they don't immediately get it, will they move on to the next poem in the magazine or collection and never give that poem a chance? Or will they slow down and do another read to find the gem you think you've written?

When do you draw the line and either say I'm not changing my poem or give in and make it more accessible, but lose your feel for what is right with the poem? When do you write for your audience?

Enjoy what's left of your October.

The Keeking Light

We had a bit of sunshine this week, one whole day of it on Friday from sunrise at 8am-ish to sunset at 4.30-ish. The return of the sun is a big deal in the north of Finland, but even in Southern Finland it has had a huge impact and immediately boosted everyone's moods. It has been a very dark and dreary winter this year, not just because the sun sets early and rises so late. It's been so overcast during the daylight hours that we haven't actually had more than a few hours of direct sunlight for maybe two months. It dampens everything and everyone in the country. So one day of pure sunlight, icy cold, is like a shot of adrenaline. Even if it's been followed by more snow and overcast weather. 

This feeling that spring is possible has given me a boost to move into looking for some new projects. So I'm applying for a grant, the first time I've tried it in Finland. Luckily, this application can be in English as I'm not up for an all Finnish application. I'm pretty sure I don't have a chance, but it's good practice and I can see how the process works. My writing group is also jumping into a new phase and we might eventually want to ask for some money. We've got a great group of enthusiastic and diverse writers, so we might has well push the boat out a little. 

I haven't written many grants and I don't have the knack as some people I have met who know the buzz words, the way to make something simple sound important and impactful. I don't invest a lot of personal emotion in them, but I also don't work only as a writer, so any money I get is bonus and totally unexpected. The money for writing time is definitely needed if I want to actually put some serious effort in my worj. Currently, I fit it into the weekend, around things I need to do for my work, my kids. I'd love to be a full-time writer, but I can't for my kids' sake. I'll throw this grant and another project I've applied for totally into the hands of the Fates and take what they give me in return. 

Publication news: I'm so delighted to be included in the most recent issue of Eemis Stane, a primarily Scots language publication. The team is just brilliant and so helpful with getting the Scots in my poems jist richt. I'm still learning, so it's been great to work with them and to be included, though Scots for me is a learned language, rather than a native tongue. The scope of the magazine is amazing and global even though it's focussed on a minority language, from a sample of Catalan translations of a Scots novel to a whole collection of great Scots poems and a review of a book of Scots translations of Chinese poets. I feel like I'm a small part of a new vitalising movement. 

Here's hoping more sunshine is on the way. 

Scotstober: Days 27-31, The End

Last of my #Scotstober round-ups. It's late due to me starting a new role at work and just being so tired every evening. But I managed to keep up, though I missed mervaill as I did neep and tumshie separately. 

Word of the Day 27: 'sklent' which means meaning things to do with slanted or sideways, including a sideways glint of light or look, or to move sideways. Willie Hershaw is a contemporary poet, musician and playwright working in Scots. His poem captures the action of a night sky with the verb use of sklent perfectly. 

Starry Nicht

Stars sae heich

abuin the muin

cauld and changeless

sklentan doun.

Stars o frost

bruckle as braith

kyth like howp

melt like faith.

Word of the Day 28: 'bauchle' - an old shoe or slipper. This poem by Sir Alexander Gray is not what I expected from an economist, but his poem 'Scotland' rings beautifully to this poet missing her adopted home. 

This is my country,

The land that begat me.

These windy spaces

Are surely my own.

A contemporary of MacDiarmid, Gray also translated many European poems into Scots. His poem 'Grief' is a touching elegy. 

Grief

What ails you, you puir auld body?

What gars you greet sae sair?

Hae you tint the man that’s been kind to you

This forty year and mair?

O, I didna greet when I tint him,

Nor yet on the burrel-day;

But though I saw to the hoose and the byre,

God kens that my hert was wae.

But this mornin’ I cam on his bauchles;

What cud I dae but greet?

For I mindit hoo hard he had wrocht for me,

Trauchlin’ wi’ sair, sair feet.

Day 29 'skreich' usually used as shriek, but there are also the phrases 'skreich o lavrocks' or 'skriech o day' meaning daybreak. I've found it in 'Mornin' a translation of Du Fu's poem in Chinese by Brian Holton a Scots translator and poet. Originally published in The Scores Journal.

Mornin

translated from the classical Chinese

Ane

Skreich o day at the sunnyside o the Southron Palace,

Rimie air keps a thousan rigs an bens;

Nou a kintra bodie is traivellin his lane,

Trees an haar convoyin him i the dawin.

A braw merlin passes seilintlike owreheid,

A hungert corbie comes eident doun ti feed;

A’m that dwaiblie A’ll niver muve nae mair,

A leaf tremmles, faas on the river puil.

Twa

A sail on the watterfit sets oot i the grey dawin,

Ma outlan yett’s steikit conter the cauld;

In tuim shaws, yalla leafs dounfaa,

In this lown kintra, an oncome o white sea-maas.

The pedisters is weit, but gey droukit nae mair,

The lift fairs, the clouds gae hauf-roads awa;

On Carlin Braes whit an unco winter it’s been,

Yestreen on a suddentie, hurls an hurls o thunner!

Day 30 Word of the Day 'mervaill' was difficult because it's an old word, not really used after the 1700s. It means a miracle or to wonder at something. To be honest, I'm too tired to scour old Scots texts trying to find it. So we'll move on to easier beasts. 

Day 31 'tumshie or neep' which means turnip. Scots used to carve turnips for lanterns for Halloween. I've tried it once and it was really difficult because they are so hard. 

For neep I found a sweet poem by Gerry Cambridge 'Field Days', not all in Scots, but it has a great sense of character with the use of Scots. Gerry edits the great The Dark Horse Magazine which has promoted many Scottish poets over the years.

Field Days

Old Davie still did much farm work by hand.

Tae thin neeps, ye gae up an doon thae rows.

Leave jist yin each six inches, sae it grows.

The thought of lunch was a breeze-fanned island,

What is the time? our common famous question.

The shrinking patch of field still to be weeded

was joy and thought we’d be no longer needed.

He’d blow through his lips: Gerad, ye’re the best yin

O thae young uns that come here!

                                                        Or biggest fool

I sometimes thought, those languid days

After the last exams, when I skipped school.

But no jam pieces nor hot tea’s tasted more

Significant than that field’s, and strongest praise

The two green pounds each day’s end, my limbs sore.

And for tumshie, which can also mean a foolish person, I used a quote from a poem by Janet Paisley "tushie waled tae dree the weird, / poued frae a cauld yirth." It's about a girl digging up turnips. I couldn't find the whole poem though it was printed in The Hunterian Poems, poems written on items in Glasgow Unviersity's Hunterian Gallery. 

Janet Paisley was another poet I worked with in my time in Scottish publishing. She sadly passed recently, but her work and her approach to writing was important when I first started out. 

And done. I have to admit, I'm relieved as it was hard keeping up with the challenge. I learned so much about Scots and about Scottish literature, names I'd never come across, poems and poets that touched and inspired me. Thanks to Dr Michael Dempster for organising #Scotstober and to all the writers, artists, translators, academics and everyone interested in Scots who took part. 

Scotstober: Poems and Writings in Scots, Days 1, 2 and 3

I studied Scottish Literature in Glasgow. I still love and try to read as much Scottish writing as possible, but I also really enjoy writing in Scots, one of Scotland's national languages. I can read most modern Scots and even some of the older versions, but I can't speak it naturally. I usually know the words to use, but it doesn't sound right when I say it, my accent is too forced, so I pepper my language with the occasional word. I asked a teacher yesterday if they were puggled and then struggled to find another word to explain what I meant. 

I do occasionally write in Scots when I feel the voice of the poem suits. I've been working on one this week, so when I noticed on Twitter yesterday the trend of #scotstober to encourage the use of Scots and one poster had added a poem in Scots that they had written I thought it was a good chance to share some of the poems I loved.

I didn't realise at first there was a list of words we're working from, so at first I just posted any Scots poem I liked, but now I'm setting myself the challenge to post writing in Scots on Twitter every day in October using the word of the day. Here is link to the 'rules'. If you want to join the challenge proper, the idea is to use a Scots word in a poem, flash fiction, a joke, anyway you can. 

But as I have a few projects on at the moment, I will just give a taster of Scots writing here. I wish I could say more about each writer and poem, but hey hoo. Dictionaries of the Scots Language is where to go if you need help understanding any words in these poems. 

@Lenniesaurus is a good feed to follow on Twitter to learn a bit about Scots. It looks like she'll also be doing her Scots Word of the Day based around the list. She's also a great wee poet herself, so check out her links to her videos. 

Day 1: First poem is by Hugh MacDiarmid one of my favourites who helped bring around the renaissance of Scottish literature and the Scots language. 

The Eemis Stane

 

I’ the how-dumb-deid o’ the cauld hairst nicht  

The warl’ like an eemis stane

Wags i’ the lift;

An’ my eerie memories fa’

Like a yowdendrift.

 

Like a yowdendrift so’s I couldna read  

The words cut oot i’ the stane

Had the fug o’ fame

An’ history’s hazelraw

No’ yirdit thaim.

Day 2: Violet Jacob, an Angus poet and novelist.

The Field by the Lirk o’ the Hill

 

Daytime an’ nicht,

Sun, wind an’ rain;

The lang, cauld licht

O’ the spring months again.

The yaird’s a’ weed,

An’ the fairm’s a’ still –

Wha’ll sow the seed

I’ the field by the lirk o’ the hill?

 

Prood maun ye lie,

Prood did ye gang;

Auld, auld am I,

But O! life’s lang!

Ghaists i’ the air,

Whaups cryin’ shrill,

An you nae mair

I’ the field by the lirk o’ the hill –

Aye, bairn, nae mair, nae mair,

I’ the field by the lirk o’ the hill!

Day 3: Word of the Day is nicht - night. I've come across this Franco-Scot poet Paul Malgrati and I love his modern take on Scots. 

Afore a Nicht Oot

luvebites o efternoons

wither unner tweed;

souches o Lapsang Souchong

sing in the storey;

tirrivees o kettle hae skived

oot o mind;

lust bakes shortbreads

ablaw the stove;

it feels like the door cuid jar an let bee bops o banter ben.

I've spent this weekend creating a zine from scratch in 48 for the Helsinki Writers Group for the Zineton event. 48 hours from getting the prompt, writing the work and designing and editing the zine. It's probably pants and I'm not sure if the PDF will even work, but hopefully something will be usable. It will hopefully be exhibited at events in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere here in Finland and online on the website. We'll even get some paper copies. Really stressful and challenging. The Group was great, getting work in on time and helping with proofing and design ideas. I can't wait to see the end result.