The Poems: Cleaning the Apostle Spoons

Cleaning the Apostle Spoons: Poems in Scots & English, Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Aberdeen, ISBN 978 1 870978 59 0. Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover:An adaptation of a Wikipedia jpg by Sìne NicTheàrlaich Cost: £4.00 Copyright: S. Blackhall 2012. ‘The history of humanity is one of migration, settling, then more migration. Whether the migration is defensive or aggressive is almost secondary in the long run. The fact is people move and ever faster, ever further now than they have ever done. The process of identifying with a place, a state, a language, a history, or a group of some sort whether religious or ethnic or kin, involves a complex and troubled negotiation between conflicting forces. The places we cling to are in the imagination as much as in time and space though we welcome the confirmations of time and place when we can get them.’ Extract from http://georgeszirtes.blogspot.co.uk. Apostle spoons were particularly popular in Pre-Reformation times when belief in the services of a patron saint was still strong. They were found in large numbers in Germany. Originating in the early fifteenth century in Europe as spoons used at table, by the sixteenth century they had become popular as baptismal presents for godchildren. In some communities they were used until at least the mid-twentieth century. In the Spirit of the Kaki Tree and Dandy Disraeli are due to be published in ‘Inspired: A Collection of Poetry’, by Forward Poetry, Peterborough in Autumn 2012. Some of these poems have already been published on http://www.poemhunter.com/sheena-blackhall. Many were written during a Summer break in Glasgow; the war poems are due to appear in The Field Marischal’s Brandy, an upcoming Malfranteaux Concepts pamphlet. A Question of Science was written to mark the The British Science Festival (4 – 9 September 2012, hosted by the University of Aberdeen.