Shore Poets
CHRISTINE DE LUCA is from Waas on the west side of Shetland but now lives in Edinburgh. Her working life was spent in education.
She is a prize-winning Scottish poet writing in both English and Shetlandic. She has published pamphlets and five full collections of poetry. The first three collections were published by the Shetland Library while the more recent Parallel Worlds (2005) and North End of Eden (2010)were published by Luath Press. In addition, Mondes Parallèles, a bi-lingual selected poems published in France by éditions fédérop, won the poetry Prix du Livre Insulaire, 2007.
Her work can also be found in anthologies and journals. She has taken Shetland poetry to India, France, Italy, Finland and Norway and been involved in several international translation events. She has appeared at several festivals, including Stanza and the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and enjoys fruitful collaborations with artists in other art-forms.
Christine is an active member of Hansel, a small cooperative which aims to promote art and literature in Orkney and Shetland. This has involved her in writing storybooks for children and visiting schools, working with teachers to promote the status and enjoyment of mother tongue. She has also published the work of other island writers.
She was Convener of Shore Poets from 2005–2010 and is also an active member of the Poetry Association of Scotland.
To find out more about Christine, or to order books or CDs, visit her website, or Hansel Cooperative Press
Conjuring words
i m Gael Turnbull, poet, 1928–2004
They shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary. Isaiah, 40 v 31
Today – so many Gaels: each from the same spring
of modesty, of graciousness, intelligence. Even now
he settles like a butterfly among us; a bright sun still
lighting him and the hills beyond, his final pathway.
There was always something of the conjurer about him:
busking the Royal Mile, top hatted; or minting meanings
from ordinary words; or sweeping us up in the absurd;
or paying each the compliment of complete attention.
Three images remain: a piper playing a lament, leading
the coffin to the graveside; a threat of morris dancers
from the faint tinkle of bells just as the hearse pulled away
and it was over. And the story of his childhood fidelity:
a journey with his little sister, but money for just one ticket,
and the young boy running, keeping up with the tram,
re-assuring her with his steady wave. That picture
imprinted lightly on our day, our journeying, this finality.
Nae aesy mizzer
A polar projection changes foo we figure oot
wir world. Shetland isna banished tae a box
i da Moray Firt or left oot aa tagidder
– ta scale up da rest – but centre stage.
Peripheral has new meanin; an marginal.
Perspective changes trowe da years: we age,
pit wir trust in aalder maps: imperfect,
but shaain a wirld eence kent. Nae satellites
ta fix a point, nae aesy mizzer, but wi pictirs
decoratin da aedges – da fowr saesons,
da seeven winders o da wirld, da furies,
an weird sea munsters ta gluff a sailor.
Da wye twa bairns, unsure, first stare
at een anidder is foo we size up intention,
map wir territory, laern hit’s safe ta share.
See me noo as du wid a aald map: finger
hit lichtly; enjoy hits mizzerlessness,
da marginalia, da element o winder.
mizzer: measure; gluff: frighten; du: you (familiar)
Da cockle shall
Busta, Sannis
Gyo o Busta, roond is a cockle: we’d watch
fur sels here, skip stons, kyemp fur da finest shalls.
We’d barely lift wir een ta see hits shape:
dat sam shall pattern at spread hitsel
owre midders’ makkin: therteen loops taen in
dan löt oot slowly on an openwark o gengs:
waves at shaded ta inky-blueness wi da wind.
Da day, hoors swittle trowe dy fingers
is du seeks, as eence I sought, da perfect ston
ta skip. Tree skips ‘ll dö, een mair is last year.
Da rings du maks spread fast. Last simmer here
eicht selkies bobbed lik bowes: eyed wis, dived,
eyed wis again. Dey left nae spreadin rings:
art hoidin artistry. I watch dy ston dance,
defy da wyes o watter, da skip o years.
Wi dee a’m richt back: we skile fur sels,
seek cockle shalls, weigh da import o stons;
skip an höve dem, fur da sea ta bring back,
ta lay up and mak again in time’s lap.
da cockle shall: a lace pattern in knitting (which requires 13 stitches to be purled together); gyo: steep, narrow inlet; sels, selkies: seals; kyemp: compete; shalls: sea shells; wir: our; een: eyes; hits: its; dat, that: at: that, which; hitsel: itself; midder: mother; makkin: knitting; loops: stitches; taen: taken; dan: then; löt: let (past tense); openwark: lace knitting; gengs: rows of knitting; da day: today; hoors: hours swittle: splash gently; trowe: through; dy: your (familiar); du: you (familiar); dö: do; een: one; is: as, than; maks: makes, knits; eicht: eight; bowes: buoys; wis: us; dey: they; hoidin: hiding; wyes: ways; dee: you (familiar); skile: look with eyes shielded; höve: throw; dem: them; lay up: cast on stitches.
