The Poems: 2006 Limited Editions

The Owl Hour (Malfranteaux Concepts, 2006) contains ‘This Braif Toun’, a cantata commissioned by Aberdeen Orpheus Choir in 2005 (lyrics bySheena Blackhall, music by James Reith). It also features ‘Sculpture in Granite’, a film commentary commissioned by Aberdeen City Council’s Maritime Museum to accompany a film on the granite industry from their archives. Coincidentally, Blackhall’s third novella ‘The Quarry’ is located around the Rubislaw Quarry area. The poem 'The Dauncin Piper' was composed as a tribute to the late David M. Low, and was first performed at a memorial concert in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care at Aberdeen University's Elphinstone Hall in April 2006.

The cover of Past Masters (Lochlands, 2006) shows the poet’s paternal grandfather, Alexander Middleton, in his Masonic insignia. He was a Past Master of Lodge No 281, Charleston of Aboyne, Aberdeenshire West. The poems draw on Masonic symbolism. The motif of Jacob’s Ladder is a recurrent one in Sheena’s poetry.

Sea Quine (Malfranteaux Concepts, 2006) includes fourteen poems inspired by paintings in the 72nd Exhibition of the Aberdeen Artists’ Society, of which Sheena is an ordinary member. Others were broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland's Reel Blend, or published in Sex & the City (Koo Press).