The Owersetts: Twenty Sonnets for Mama

Some months ago I was contacted by Shao Lei from China's Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press(FLTRP) who is in charge of the overseas copyright of the Chinese poet Jidi Majia's works, through the good services of Gerry Loose. I was asked to translate into Scots the poem :Twenty Sonnets for Mama, which was published in 2020. Jidi Majia (simplified Chinese: 吉狄马加, traditional Chinese: 吉狄馬加, pinyin: Jídí mǎjiā) is Chinese poet and was a lieutenant governor of Qinghai from 2006 to 2010. He has won national literature awards, is also considered one of the greatest poets of minorities in China. He is the President of the China Minority Literary Association and Permanent Vice-President of the China Poets' Association.

The Little Book of Issues

Title: The Little Book of Issues (Pamphlet 160)Cover: Pixabay Photo, online, copyright free Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Printed by Repro Overflow, Aberdeen 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. October 2020: copyright Sheena Blackhall Limited Edition of 50

Poems: The Mannequin

Title: The Mannequin (Pamphlet 159).Cover: Copyright free from Pixabay. Published by Malfranteaux Concepts.Printed by Repro Overflow, Aberdeen Limited Print 50 copies Acknowledgements:Seasonal Shifts was inspired by participation in A Half-Nijuin Renga in for National Poetry Day October 1st 2020, run by Gerry Loose & Ken Cockburn on Zoom: the actual group Renga ‘No Quasimodo clang; can be found on the Lapidus website, https://www.lapidusscotland.co.uk/no-quasimodi-clang/. Making a Stand was inspired by a Zoom meet with the Scottish Poetry Library, discussing poems about racism. Prior to that I was commissioned by Aberdeen City Libraries to pull together responses by the general public on Aberdeen’s Future, which prompted my own poem, Aberdeen: The Future. Twa Traditional Malay Pantuns was published in Pantouns. Bretagnes-Celties, Pantun Sayang: Les Amis Francophones du Pantoun (AFP), with thanks to Georges Voisset. In September I was contacted by Lisa Jablow, from The Voice for Asian Elephants Society. This was founded by Sangita Iyer, who created the documentary Gods In Shackles, about the temple elephants of Kerala. The VFAES two-day event in November is to include a concert, wherein my poem The Walk of the Temple Tooth Elephant, will be set to music and sung.Some poems were inspired by the BP Portrait Award 2020 exhibition, Aberdeen.October 2020: copyright Sheena Blackhall