The Poems: Why give Nuts to a Man with no Teeth

Title: Why give Nuts to a Man with no Teeth? Pamphlet no 146.Poems & Tales in Scots & English. Published by Malfranteaux Concepts.Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street, Aberdeen. The cover image is by the artist Sue Ruben. The back cover is by Sine NicThearlaich (Sheena Blackhall). Many of these poems were written at Dhanakosa 18th- 25th October 2019 after performing the ritual of TeSlagi or the Dance of the Four Directions under the direction of the creative writing tutor Larry Butler. Others were inspired by the music of the Burmese-Scottish composer of Electronic Music Fiona Soe Paing. The poem ‘Stanley Superman’ was written for ‘A Barrie Night: Remembering Stanley Robertson’ performed at Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree, part of the ‘Being Human’ a festival of the humanities.Several others were written during the Sound Festival Aberdeen during workshops and inspired by We need to talk / Il faut qu'on parle. which explores the relationship between two cellists. Yuletide was written to perform at Fiona Kennedy’s concert: VSA St Machar’s 2019. Walter Scott: Hot Trotter was a response to studying an Aberdeen University online course, Walter Scott: The Man Behind the Monument, a four-week course delivered by Professor Ali Lumsden, the director of Aberdeen’s Walter Scott Research Centre & Honorary librarian Abbotsford, and Kirsty Archer-Thompson who is responsible for the collections, interiors and built heritage of Abbotsford.Thanks are also due to Malfranteux Concepts for agreeing to publish this collection, and also to the artist Sue Ruben for allowing the use of her work to provide the cover image. As well as painting, Consultant psychiatrist Dr Sue Ruben worked in both General Adult Psychiatry and Addictions in North Wales, and Liverpool. Sheena Blackhall November 2019