The Poems: The TVs 10th Birthday

Acknowledgements I wrote The Cam-ruadh and Fear na Bruach: Man of the Braes, after filming stories in Ballater with Jackie Ross and Grace Banks for the 2020 International Storytelling Festival. Two Chekhov owersetts were performed via Zoom in the Edinburgh Literary Festival Chekhov event, Doctor Chekhov’s Prescription, 23rd August 2020. 2020 marks 160 years since master playwright and short-story writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in Southern Russia. This was hosted by Starling and the Scotland Russia Forum in cooperation with Tom Hubbard and friends . Twa Laments were published in the anthology The Hale Clamjamfry, Poems from the North East of Scotland, pub by Tangletree Pres, Aboyne, with the aid of the Doric Board. Veesions frae a Heilan Burn, 1986: was a Scottish Poetry Library commission chosen by Thomas Clark as part of the Scottish Poetry Library’s ‘Champions’ project, a guest curatorship programme to help extend their national reach. Thomas Clark says, ‘Oor theme is ‘Vision’, an if language is a wey o seein the warld, there’s naebody maks thon ony plainer than Sheena Blackhall. Is a ‘futterat’ actually jist a common ferret? Dae ‘sparkling’ an ‘skinklin’ really mean the exact same thing? The act o seein, an describin whit is seen, is a transformative yin, kythin the mither tongue o the minority as somethin mair than either medium or message. Blackhall’s rich northern Scots middens awthegither the intermediary o English, an cairries its imagery vieve frae the ee straicht through tae the hert.’ The film of the poem (Glen Gairn) was filmed an edited by Andrew Davidson from Scots Radio supported by the Doric Board. It went live on the SPL site on August 12th 2020 : https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/veesions-frae-a-heilan-burn-1986/ For more information on publications by Sheena Blackhall, visit http://sheenablackhall.blogspot.com or the on-line catalogue of the Nat. Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/index/html. All of Blackhall’s poems in Scots and English, are now uploaded on www.poemhunter.com. Her website can be found on http://smiddleton4.wix.com/sheena-blackhall. An interview in podcast form with the poet appears on: http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/connect/podcast/sheena-blackhall. Thanks are due to Malfranteaux Concept for publishing this volume, and Frieda Morrison for her ongoing support. August 26th 2020: copyright Sheena Blackhall

The Poems: The Love Jam of Nostradamus

Acknowledgements:Pamphlet no. 156 Title: The Love Jam of Nostradamus, Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Aberdeen, Printed by: Repro Overflow 5 Novar Place Aberdeen.Cover: A black & white version of a woodcut by Johannes Zainer 1473. The Murderet Bairn is based on information from https://holeousia.com/about-me/deeside-tales-the-stories-of-a-small-glen/ I recorded The Auld Woman fa steeked the door on Daith, on the following website: Forest Heritage Scotland : Discover your roots in Scotland’s forests www.forestheritagescotland.com. The Auld Wumman fa steeked the yett on Daith, is a story told to me by Stanley Robertson. This is a version I wrote from the transcript of the audio file I recorded. The story Bojo was written in response to the Journalists’ Charity/Dickens Fellowship competition which aimed to find a new Dickens character for the 21st century. There were almost 300 entries in the competition to mark the 150th anniversary of the great writer’s death. The competition was used to raise awareness (and funds) for the Journalists’ Charity which, having begun his career as a freelance Parliamentary reporter, Dickens helped found over 155 years ago. ‘Bojo’ was one of the short listed entries. The Journalists’ Charity trustee, Charles Garside, recorded it on You Tube Volume 1 track 12. https://journalistscharity.org.uk/dickens/ The Ballads of Torry and Banchory were inspired by The Storytelling Centre Edinburgh’s project Scottish Story Ripple. Deeside poems were written on a day up GlenGairn filmed by Grace Banks for our THAIA initiative. The Lonely Monkey Puzzle Tree was published by Sally Evans on her poetry website, inspired by her comments on Facebook. This a Limited Edition of 50 books. For more information on publications by Sheena Blackhall, visit http://sheenablackhall.blogspot.com or the on-line catalogue of the Nat. Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/index/html. All of Blackhall’s poems in Scots and English, are now uploaded on www.poemhunter.com. Her website can be found on http://smiddleton4.wix.com/sheena-blackhall. An interview in podcast form with the poet appears on: http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/connect/podcast/sheena-blackhall.This book is dedicated to Sally Evans, poet & friend 2020 © Copyright Sheena Blackhall August 2020