The Poems: The Mongolian Spot

Title: The Mongolian Spot.Poems & in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall.Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire.Printed by Thistle Reprographics,55 Holburn Street Aberdeen.Cost: £3.00.Copyright: S. Blackhall 2014 Cover: Mongolian Musician This is a file from the Wikipedia Commons. Information from its description page is shown here:Sambuugiin Pürevjav of Altai Khairkhan (an overtone singing ensemble from Mongolia) playing a morin khuur near Centre Georges Pompidou in 2005.Author : Eric PouhierDate : Octob. 2005 This book is dedicated to Philip & Vicki Watt,Fadlydyke Farm, New Deer. Some of these poems have previously been published on www.poemhunter.com. Other pieces will be published by Forward Poetry in May, 2014, in the following publications: Light up the Dark, Darkest before the Dawn, and Candlelit Thoughts. The extract ‘Fyvie’ was taken from a Doric play written by Les Wheeler and Sheena Blackhall. The poems Smack Heid Debbie and The Warld Accordin tae the Rev Angus Macstrewn were taken from a prizewinning play ‘Nichtshades’ also written by Blackhall & Wheeler. The Commonwealth was written as part of a project on the Aberdeen Reading Bus funded by Fairer Scotland. The Great Tapestry of Scotland was written to perform at an event in Aberdeen’s Tunnels, organized by the National Collective, (artists and creative for Scottish Independence). Several poems were inspired by works in the Scottish National Galleries of Scotland, one of which was short listed in the Inspired? Get Writing! 2014 competition. The House of the Russian Dolls was Blackhall’s response to the Scottish Book Trust’s general invitation for people to write a story about the meaning of home.

The Poems: Hare's Foot: A Poet's Notebook

The Poems: Hare’s Foot: A Poet’s Notebook : Pamphlet no 99 Poems & Tales in Scots & English, printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen, Cost: £3.00 pub 2014. Some of the stories are Blackhall’s own versions of travellers’ tales learned from the late Stanley Robertson. Many of the ‘snippits’ of folk lore and UFO sightings were encountered by the poet whilst researching an upcoming book on urban myths and legends. Some inspired poems, others did not. Some of these poems are to be found on www.poemhunter.com.

The Poems: Pirrins and Magnus

The Poems: Pirrins and Magnus: Pamphlet no 98: Poems & Tales in Scots & English, Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen, Cost: £3.00 pub 2014. All of Blackhall’s poems in Scots and English, are now uploaded on www.poemhunter.com. The first section of these poems was inspired by material from the Terezin (Theresienstadt), concentration camp. About 5,000 drawings survived, created by the 15,000 children who passed through there to the death camps, most dying in Auschwitz in the Summer-Autumn of 1944. The drawings feature in the book of Jewish Art Treasures from Prague:The State Jewish Museum in Prague and its collections, Lund Humphries, (London) in Association with the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester. Edited, with a foreword by Professor C.R. Dodwell, LittD FBA. Some of these poems have been, or are about to be, published in the following: Ever Watchful: Forward Poetry, Vice Verses ( Jan 2014). There is Another Xmas, Malfranteaux Concepts, Christmas (1913). Highland Cow was broadcast on Mooney Goes Wild, Raidió Teilifís Éireann,. The tale Hide an Seek was published in the Autumn issue of Northwords

The Stories: Aberdeenshire Folk Tales

Aberdeenshire Folk Tales By Grace Banks & Sheena Blackhall, Pub by The History Press, 2013 ISBN: 9780752497587. The folklore of the North East provides a rich tapestry for the tales within; from Celtic and Pictish origins meet witches, selkies, smugglers, fairies, monsters, despicable rogues, riddles and heroes. Tragic events, spellbinding characters, humour, romance and clever minds are bound together by two well-established storytellers living and working in the city and shire of Aberdeen. Some of the tales in this collection are based on historical fact while others are embedded in myth and legend. All the stories are set against the backdrop of this lovely and varied landscape. Sheena and Grace have both been inspired in their storytelling and singing by the traveller, raconteur and balladeer, Stanley Robertson. - See more at: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/aberdeenshire-folk-tales.html#sthash.hKbnWtDU.dpuf

The Poems: Shards

Title: Shards. Poems & Tales in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall. Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire.Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover: Based on The Door to Freedom by Rene Magritte, 1936. Cost: £3.00.Copyright: S. Blackhall 2013. For more information on other publications by Sheena Blackhall, visit http://sheenablackhall.blogspot.com or the on-line catalogue of the National Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/index/html. Some of these poems have previously been published on www.poemhunter.com. ‘They Feared’ will appear in November published by Rain Poetry Books (Keith Murray). ‘A Royal Baby’ will feature in New Beginnings by Forward Poetry, 2014. ‘A Young Iguana’ will be published in Animal Antics by Forward Poetry 2014. ‘The Inconstant Lover’ will appear in Poetry Obsessions by Forward Poetry, also in 2014. ‘Screivin in Scots’ will be published in Lallans 83. ‘The Wall’ was the winning entry announced at the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival in Glasgow on 19th October2013. (Bipolar Scotland ran a short story competition on the theme of ‘First Love.’) ‘Chardonnay’ and ‘The Rowie Song’ were specially written as performance pieces to celebrate Aberdeen Arts Centre 50th anniversary in October 2013, at a civic reception in Aberdeen’s Town House. ‘The Yowes an the Tortoises’ is a Scots owersett of a traditional Nigerian tale told by a parent on an Aberdeen Reading Bus Project. The current project, Global Blethers, is funded by the Fairer Scotland Fund.

The Poems: The Aye-Aye

Title: The Aye-Aye, Poems in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall.Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire. Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen.Cover:Aye-Aye (from the www).Cost: £3.00.Copyright: S. Blackhall 2013.The first poems in this pamphlet were written in response to mysterious paper sculptures appearing in Scotland: Catriona Low, publisher of Severin Books, is constantly on their trail. This pamphlet is dedicated to her for alerting me to each new discovery. http://severinbooks.blogspot.co.uk/ Most of the poems were written during the summer of 2013, during stays on Jersey and St Malo. The Dream o the Restless Bairnickie is published in ‘Pushing Out the Boat, Issue 12’. Thank You Spring will feature in ‘Spirit of Spring’, a Forward Press Anthology due out in October. Memorial Day & Birthday are due to appear in ‘Shadows’, a Malfranteaux Concepts publication compiled by Keith Murray. A Puckle Doric Wirds I like and Fitbaa were written for inclusion in a forthcoming anthology compiled by Mark Pithie for a 2013 Doric Festival event. The Japanese tanka owersetts appeared in Southlight magazine. Thanks are due to Les Wheeler for his continued encouragement and support in agreeing to publish this little pamphlet. Re. The Cro-Magnon Poem My half brother, Charles Middleton Ritchie, died in Canada within a year or so of our first meeting. My younger brother, Ian Middleton, predeceased him. A woman can only access paternal DNA via a close male relative and I was delighted that my nephew Scott Ritchie, in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, agreed to submit a sample for analysis. The result was as follows:

The male line of our family DNA carries the mutation M343. The paternal haplotype is R1b. Haplogroup R is thought to have appeared some 30,000 years ago in Central Asia and is widely spread all over the world. The mutation M343 is linked to one of the subclades of Haplogroup R called R1b which is thought to have been part of the recolonisation of Europe following the Last Glacial Maximum. The R1b expansion was closely linked to the spreading of the Indo-European languages. This makes us direct descendants of the Cro Magnon people, the modern humans who painted the "Lascaux Cave" in Dordogne in the South of France. These paintings can be regarded both as a testimony of the artistic skills of our ancestors but also as a sketch book of their life during the last glacial age. R1b can be found in more than 80% of the population in England, France and Spain. In western Ireland, R1b is found in nearly 100% of the population.

The Poems: Goosebumps for Beginners

Goosebumps for Beginners:Poems & tales in Scots & English.by Sheena Blackhall Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen Cost: £3.00Cover: Image of Geese ( in the Public Domain) by Tom Kelly, US Fish and Wildlife Service Copyright: S. Blackhall 201 3For more information on other publications by Sheena Blackhall, visit http://sheenablackhall.blogspot.com or the on-line catalogue of the National Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/index/html). The Trouble with War has been selected for publication in The World at War- Poems from the Battlefield in September 2013 (Forward Poetry). Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Mother has been selected for publication by Forward Poetry in the anthology A Mother to Me, due for publication in September 2013 Valentine Card has been accepted for publication by Forward Poetry in the Anthology Endless Love- Heart’s Desire, due out Sept 2013. A Day to Remember has been accepted for publication in ‘A Day in Time’, Forward Poetry, due out in September 2013.

Most of these poems were written in June (22nd-28th) 2013 on retreat at Dhanakosa, Balquhidder. The English poems will eventually be published on http://www.poemhunter.com/sheena-blackhall. Thanks are due to Les Wheeler for his continued encouragement and support in agreeing to publish this little pamphlet.

The Poems: Grey Matter

Grey Matter:Poems & tales in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen Cost: £3.00 This book is dedicated to Les & Sheila Wheeler.Some of the poems are included in Volume 4 of Canvases, published by Rain Poetry Books. The story Destiny Stone appeared on the Scottish Book Trust feature ‘Treasures’. Several poems were inspired by the annual Aberdeen Artists’ Exhibition, and the St Andrew’s Song was written for ‘Families First’, an event organised for disadvantaged families in St Andrews. Various poems have already been published on http://www.poemhunter.com/sheena-blackhall. The cover photograph of Blackhall was taken at the Psychology Department of Aberdeen University, during a research project session conducted there.

The Poems: Walking in Blake's Garden

Walking in Blake’s Garden: Poems in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall. Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire.Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover: Samuel Palmer: Early Morning. Cost: £3.00.Copyright: S. Blackhall 2013 For more information on other publications by Sheena Blackhall, visit the on-line catalogue of the National Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/index/html. Some of these poems have previously been published on www.poemhunter.com. Most of them were written during the spring of 2013, on a visit to Derbyshire. Queen Mary, jyled was prompted by a visit to Chatsworth, one of her many places of imprisonment. The Village of Eyam was the result of an exploration of a scene of death from the bubonic plague in 1665-1666. In the book ‘Eyam Plague 1665-1666’ by John Clifford ISBN O-9544666-0-8 pub 2003, the author refers to a suggested ‘cure’ at the time for the disease, by attaching a live chicken with its anus over the patient’s bubo, the warmth being thought useful in drawing out the poison. He goes on to observe that traces of aureomycin, a drug now used as part of a cure for the plague, were found in the soil of Vietnam where poultry continually ingest the earth as grits, to aid defecation. Meltwater, Jock Thamson’s Bairns in the Ship of Charon, Shellyman and Fear-Bhata were all inspired by Waterlines, an artistic partnership of Will Maclean and Marian Leven. The exhibition featured items from the Special Collections and Museums at the University of Aberdeen. In the production of Waterlines, they created a new sculptured marker in the landscape that is dominated by the ambitious Sir Duncan Rice Library. The Short Story Help! was written for the event Inventions and Experiments from Scotland, 9/5/2013, part of the Children’s programme in Aberdeen University’s May Festival. Stone Age Orcadians was written during a trip to the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the Scots poems will be published in the anthology Dialect Poetry ISBN 978-1-906845-47-6 due out in Autumn 2013.

The Poems: In Faldy's Wood

In Faldy’s Wood:Poems & Tales in Scots & English, Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire, Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen.Cost: £3.00 Copyright: S. Blackhall 2013. This book is dedicated to Philip & Vicki Watt and family, Fadlydyke Farm, New Deer. The poem Pine will appear in the anthology Into the Forest - A Celtic Alphabet of Tree Poems to be published by Saraband Books in autumn 2013, edited by Mandy Haggith. The 3 Flash Fiction tales were published in Northwords Now in 2012. Poems on the Scottish inventions and inventors were written as part of a school Science project for the Reading Bus. The poem for Dr George Philp appeared in The Scotsman. Thanks are due to Les Wheeler for his continued encouragement and support in agreeing to publish this little pamphlet.

The Poems: A Nest of Tongues

The Poems: A Nest of Tongues: Poems & Story in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall.Pub by Malfranteaux Concepts Aberdeen ISBN : 978 1 870978 91 0. Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover: Pandemonium, August 1914: by George Grosz (archival sources)Cost: £4.00. The cover image is a drawing by the German artist George Grosz (1893-1959) who considered himself a propagandist of the social revolution. He not only depicted victims of the catastrophe of the First World War - the disabled, crippled, and mutilated - he also portrayed the collapse of capitalist society and its values. His wartime line drawings show him to be a master of caricature. What the Dickens is due to be published in ‘Down Memory Lane’, an anthology by Forward Poetry, Peterborough in Winter 2012. Some of these poems have already been published on http://www.poemhunter.com/sheena-blackhall. Many were written during an Autumn trip to Holland and the Rhine. Auld Yowe has been accepted by Lallans mag for issue 81.'Willie' will be published in the Cromar Echo, Tarland.

The Stories: Peach Blossom Petals: Folk Tales & Poems from Vietnam

The Stories: Peach Blossom Petals: Folk Tales & Poems from Vietnam. Owersetts in Scots by Sheena Blackhall. Published by Malfranteaux Concepts. ISBN : 978 1 870978 90 3 (2012)Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen Front Cover: Jessica Le Blackhall. Back Cover: Jessica Le Blackhall & her great grandmother, Lac Le Thi, in Dien Ban Quang Nam, Da Nang. Cost: £4.00. Copyright: S. Blackhall. This is the writer's 15th collection of short stories. I am indebted to Nga Le Blackhall, my daughter in law, for providing the photos throughout this publication, with the exception of those of the monkey, the turtle photos and the gecko. The front cover photograph, taken in the farming village of Dien Ban Quang Nam in the province of Da Nang, is of Jessica Le Blackhall, my grand-daughter. The back cover photograph is of Jessica Le Blackhall (aged 1) with her great grandmother, Lac Le Thi (aged 92) also in Dien Ban Quang Nam. Most of the poems are Scots owersets of Ca dao by Sheena Blackhall from English translations on Wikivietlit by Linh Dinh. Linh Dinh was born in 1963, in Saigon, Vietnam and is a Vietnamese-American poet, fiction writer, translator, and photographer. ‘The term ca dao (derived from a line in the Wei Wind section of the classic Chinese folk poetry anthology, Shi Jing, or Books of Odes) can be loosely translated as “unaccompanied songs.” Ca: to sing; dao: to sing without music. The ca dao poems, transmitted orally, sustained and nourished the Vietnamese language through its centuries of domination and influence by China…Outside of the official purview, the ca dao poems flourished, telling of the everyday life and concerns of ordinary Vietnamese. The poems tend to be short--with many comprised of a single couplet of fourteen syllables (three less than a standard haiku)--but there are also many longer ones with 20 lines or more. Ca dao can be of four-syllable lines, with end rhymes.’ Linh Dinh

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.

The Poems: Impossible Gifties

New collection of ten poems
by Sheena Blackhall
celebrating Edinburgh's Book Sculptures
exhibited as part of the GIFTED Tour
at Aberdeen's Central Library until September 6th 2012

(Gifted Tour organised by the Scottish Poetry Library in partnership with
Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature).

Impossible Gifties will be available from Severin Books early in September.

The Poems: The Merry Dancers

The Poems The Merry Dancers: ISBN 1 870 978 22 4. A collaboration between Tom Hubbard and Sheena Blackhall. Poems, ballads and tales from the North Sea and the Baltic, in Scots and English, published by Malfranteaux Concepts, Aberdeen 2012, printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street, Aberdeen. Cover designed by Claire Hubbard. Kirkhill Primary School in Aberdeen was working on a project for children, ‘Stories from the North Sea Shore’, which aims to link the east coast of Scotland with its neighbouring coasts in mainland Europe. The idea inspired this joint pamphlet of poems by Blackhall and Hubbard exploring the folklore and translations from points along these coasts and some way inland, for general readership. The pamphlet is their response to the cultures of Aberdeenshire, Fife, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgian Flanders, Baltic Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and the Faeroes. A Writer’s Residency at the Château de Lavigny in Switzerland gave Dr Hubbard the time and conditions to work on his part of the closing stages of the project. Both Blackhall and Hubbard are graduates of Aberdeen University. Claire Hubbard graduated BA in Design and Creativity from Dundee College.

The Poems:Steens

STEENS:Poems & Tales in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall. Pub. Malfranteaux Concepts Aberdeen July 2012 ISBN 978 1 870978 22 4. Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover: Amoghavira c/o Dhanakosa Buddhist Retreat Centre, Balquhidder.Some of these poems were written on a writing retreat at the Triratna Buddhist Centre, Dhanakosa, in June 2012. Others were written on research at the Orkney Islands in July 2012. Various poems have already been published on http://www.poemhunter.com/sheena-blackhall.

The Poems: Matzevot:A Walk on the Face of Gravestones

The Poems: Matzevot: A Walk on the Face of Gravestones. ISBN 9778 1 870978 19 4. Published by Malfranteaux Concepts, May 2012 Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Some of these poems were inspired by works in the Aberdeen Artists’ 2012 Exhibition. The Animal Refugees is to be published in a forthcoming schools’ anthology published by Madhubun Education Books for classes 1-8 in Uttar Pradesh, India. Another poem submitted to Inspired? Get Writing, (the National Galleries of Scotland) won a certificate of Special Merit. Buddha at the Bodhi Tree, Sri Lanka, is published on the Dong Hung Temple Buddhist Education Centre website, Sri Lanka. The Korean owersetts are published in the magazine Cabhsair/Causeway Volume 3 issue 1. In Praise o Lallans is published in Lallans magazine. Several poems were written during an on- site visit to Cambridge. The stories were written as a result of historical research carried out for the children’s book, Apardion,published by the Aberdeen Reading Bus. The English poems will be published on http://www.poemhunter.com/sheena-blackhall. My Favourite Place in Scotland: Balquhidder Eden, appears on the website hosted by the Scottish Book Trust and BBC Radio Scotland. See http://sheenablackhall.blogspot.com for a comprehensive list of the poet’s work. May 2012 Copyright, Sheena Blackhall

The Poems:Three Cats Flying

The Poems: Three Cats Flying.Three Cats Flying. Pub: Malfranteaux Concepts, Aberdeen 2012 ISBN 978 1 870978 32 3. March 2012. The Cover: ‘In 1941, Jewish-American photographer Philippe Halsman met the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí in New York City and they began to collaborate in the late 1940s. The 1948 work Dali Atomicus explores the idea of suspension, depicting three cats flying, water thrown from a bucket, an easel, a footstool and Salvador Dalí all seemingly suspended in mid-air. The title of the photograph is a reference to Dalí's work Leda Atomica (which can be seen in the right of the photograph behind the two cats.) This is the unretouched version of the photograph that was published in LIFE magazine. In this version the wires suspending the easel and the painting, the hand of the assistant holding the chair and the prop holding up the footstool can still be seen. The frame on the easel is still empty. The copyright for this photo was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office but according to the U.S. Library of Congress was not renewed, putting it in the public domain in the United States and elsewhere...The photograph is Halsman’s homage both to the new atomic age (prompted by physicists’ then-recent announcement that all matter hangs in a constant state of suspension) and to Dalí’s surrealist masterpiece "Leda Atomica" (seen on the right, behind the cats, and unfinished at the time). It took six hours, 28 jumps, and a roomful of assistants throwing angry cats and buckets of water into the air to get the perfect exposure.’ (Extracts from Wikipedia).Some of these poems were inspired by the exhibition From Van Gogh to Vettriano, Hidden Gems from Private Collections (2012), Aberdeen Art Gallery. The stories emerged from historical research funded by the Aberdeen Reading Bus, into some of the city’s heritage sites. The English poems are published online at http://www.poemhunter.com/sheena-blackhall. I am indebted to Sir Duncan Rice for bringing to my intention The Death of Kjartan and Audun’s Bear, which are here rendered in Scots. The cover is a copy of Dali Atomicus by the Jewish-American photographer Philippe Halsman.

The Honey That Came From The Sea

The Honey That Came From The Sea

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The Chimaera Institute

The Chimaera Institute

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