The Poems: Ganesh's Daughter

Acknowledgements Title: Ganesh’s Daughter,Pamphlet no 174, Cover: Pin Interest clip art elephant,Published by Malfranteaux Concepts,Printed by Retro Overflow Copyright: Sheena Blackhall January 2022. The song ‘David Toulmin’s Heirskip’ which sings to the tune Drumdelgie was commissioned by the Elphinstone Institute to celebrate the launch of their book which brings together all the winning stories since inception of the Toulmin Story Comp together with selected others in the anthology Dinna Mess wi the Popo and other stories of the North-East of Scotland. Balvaird Castle appeared in The Northern Light Issue 55 – December 2021 Confraternity of the Knights of the Most Holy Trinity (Priory of Scotland). ‘Birse Kirk’ features in the The Dee Don Ceilidh Collective ‘Our Living Rivers and Glens’ project. Added to their media map, as an inspiration for their composers and songwriters, Jenny Sturgeon has cited it as one of her inspirations for her new song ‘Spinning Discs’. The tunes and songs are now complete, and you can listen to them on the designated website A‘legacy’ book for the project, will include all of the new music and songs, and some of the images and inspirations behind them. Birse Kirk will feature in this. The Spikk o the Nor East Leid was commissioned by DOST, and the poem (text & video) is live on dsl.ac.uk/Aitken100.‘A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (‘DOST’, 1932–2002) is a unique record of the language, history, culture and traditions of the Scots-speaking people from their earliest records to the year 1700. Running to 8,100 pages, this national treasure incorporates some 50,000 entries and 581,000 illustrative quotations drawn from more than three centuries of language use…. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of its most significant contributors: A.J. (Jack) Aitken (1921–1998), an outstanding figure in Scots language scholarship and editor of DOST from 1955 to 1986. …’As a lasting tribute to DOS five poets were commissioned to write poems celebration of Scots and its extensive history. The poems, written in a variety of local vernaculars, were published on St Andrew’s Day 2021, by Sheena Blackhall, Liz Lochhead, Alison Millar, Gregor Steele and Rab Wilson Sheena Blackhall c. January 2022

The Poems: Meenstrukk

Title: Meenstrukk : Pamphlet 173. Cover: The Lovers: by Marc Chagall. Published by Malfranteaux Concepts. Printed by Retro Overflow. Copyright: Sheena Blackhall November 2021.Acknowledgements: Peter Craig, editor of Echoes from Cromar’s Past, tells us that ‘the rock underlying Morven is much the same as some of the rock brought back from the Moon. The most accepted theory of the origin of the Moon is that it was formed when a large asteroid hit the Earth soon after its formation and the huge amount of ejected debris later coalesced to form the Moon. Thus Moon rocks are very similar to those that the Earth was made of at that time, but, while Moon rocks haven’t suffered any weathering or erosion (no atmosphere, water or plate tectonics), those on Earth have been constantly recycled, with the result that there are many, many more different kinds of rock on Earth than on the Moon.’

The Poems: Touch & Go

Acknowledgements Title: Touch & Go : Pamphlet no 172 Cover: Free Surrealist image from Pixabay Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Printed by Retro Overflow Copyright: Sheena Blackhall 2021. The Doctor in the Kirk was accepted by Lallans 99. The Cattie Poem was inspired by a piece written by Ananda, (Stephen Parr). Blue Lampie was written for the event North East Voices, part of the Aberdeen University Festival Wayword 21. The Howe o the Mearns was written to perform at the Johnshaven Heritage Day. Bawd bi the Dee featured in The Great Scottish Canvas virtual exhibition on 18 September during Climate Fringe Week, a week of climate events in the run up to COP26 in Glasgow. It will also appear in the Great Scottish Canvas book which will be brought to the UN climate conference, COP26, in Glasgow this November, to kickstart conversations about the future the people of Scotland want to see. The concluding Scots Owersetts are based on poems in World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time.Sheena Blackhall c. September 2021

The Poems: Chacun à Son Goût / Fitiver Floats yer Boat: Pamphlet no 171

Title: Chacun à Son Goût / Fitiver Floats yer Boat: Pamphlet no 171 Cover: Free Image: Shuttershock,Published by Malfranteaux Concepts,Printed by Retro Overflow,Copyright: Sheena Blackhall 2021.The poem The Hurcheon was written to perform at The Wee Gatherin, July 21st 2021, a mini festival of the best in Scottish poetry, hosted by the Poets’ Republic Magazine. The Poem, Burns the Celebrity, was inspired by the Glasgow University Future Learning Course: Robert Burns: Poems, Songs and Legacy.Re. the poem ‘I Remember’…The Scottish Covid Memorial honours lost loved ones and recognises the impact of the pandemic upon us all, helping to shape a culture of recuperation. During summer 2021 the artistic team, led by Alec Finlay, prepared to co-create the memorial – an artwork in Pollok Country Park, online publication, and installations at satellite venues across Scotland – details of which will be confirmed in the autumn. From July, workshops took place in communities. These guided the writing of memories as an ‘I remember’ written text. The creative workshops will be guided by designer Lucy Richards and poet Ken Cockburn. The ‘I remember’ form was first devised by Joe Brainard. Examples of the ‘I remember’ produced for the memorial project can be found on the project blog. http://www.i-remember.uk/ Thanks are due to Malfranteaux Concept for publishing this volume, and to the creator of the cover image from Shuttershock.

The Owersetts: The War o the Warlds

The War o the Warlds: The War of the Worlds in North-east Scots (Doric) (Scots Edition) Owersett by Sheena Blackhall ISBN: 1782012710 Author: H G Wells. Pages: 224 Publisher: Evertype Publication Date: 2021-08-01

The Anthologies: Living our Dying

Living our Dying: eds Larry Butler & Sheila Templeton, ISBN 978-1-9196286-3-9 £15.00 pub. Rymour Books July 2012. Inspired by the work of the late David Donnison, thirty-two writers, including Sheena Blackhall, blend prose and poetry, look at dying and the process of dying. Intrinsic to the book is the desire to discuss creatively a subject often regarded as taboo. Most of us, especially in the West, find it hard to look death in the eye. In Living Our Dying, we learn how to talk more honestly about our fears, our pain, our wishes around death, and what emerges is a richer engagement with life.'I love this beautiful book. It will not only help you to die a good death, it will strengthen you to live a good life' RICHARD HOLLOWAY

The Poems: The Poem that Walked on Stilts

Acknowledgements: Title: The Poem that Walked on Stilts : Pamphlet no 170.Front Cover: An online tattoo design based on Salvador Dali’s elephant works. Back Cover: Winnie Blackhall creating a bower for a rabbit, Coull.Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Printed by Retro Overflow. Copyright: Sheena Blackhall July 2021.The back cover features Winnie Blackhall aged 8 creating a bower at the entrance to a rabbit hole at Coull, which she constructed with her sister Jessica.The front cover is taken from an online tattoo design, itself based on the work by Salvador Dali. Lockdown in a Bedroom was included in Best Scottish Poems 2020. Best Scottish Poems is an online publication, consisting of 20 poems chosen by a different editor each year, with comments by the editor and poets. It provides a personal overview of a year of Scottish poetry. The editor in 2020 was Janette Ayachi. Several Poems were inspired by artists who were included in the exhibition British Art Show 9, running at Aberdeen Art Gallery July 2021. Others were prompted by items in the programme QI (Flying with Falcons etc) What is forgotten & What Remains? is inspired by the title of an event at the Museum of Immigration, Paris, running from May2019-August 2021. Sheena Blackhall c. July 2021

The Poems: Ice Cream Dreams

Title: Ice Cream Dreams : Pamphlet no 169 Cover: free Vector download Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Printed by Retro Overflow Copyright: Sheena Blackhall June 2021 Many of the poems were inspired by works in the Aberdeen Artists online exhibition, June 2021. Protectrix was commissioned by BBC Radio 3’s The Verb programme, broadcast on 11th June 2021, presented by Ian McMillan.Thanks are due to Malfranteaux Concepts for publishing this volume, and to the creator of the cover image.Sheena Blackhall c. June 2021

The Poems: Spoiler Alert!

Acknowledgements Title: Spoiler Alert : Pamphlet no 168 Cover: Free Clipart Image Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Printed by Retro Overflow Copyright: Sheena Blackhall 2021 A section within these poems was written on a full day’s researching Upper Deeside with the storyteller & photographer, Grace Banks. Her extensive knowledge of the names of the flora & fauna of the natural world helped greatly when I wrote the poems. She also communicates with birds by mimicking their calls. Some poems are owersetts in Scots from the free online course, Future Learning, Poetry of the Holocaust from Yad Vashem. Sheena Blackhall c. May 2021

The Poems: Hard Listening

Acknowledgements Title: Hard Listening : Pamphlet no 167 Cover: inner ear vintage engraving Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Printed by Retro Overflow Copyright: Sheena Blackhall 2021 Death Echoes was inspired by the pamphlet ‘Redemption’, by the poet Ananda, (Stephen Parr). The Birthplace of Treasure Island & the poem Braemar were prompted by performing at St Margaret’s Church, Braemar, filmed as part of a series of concerts funded by a grant of £20,000 from the Performance Arts Venues Recovery Fund.Sheena Blackhall c. May 2021

The Poems: (166) A Bard's Life

Sheena Blackhall, A Bard’s Life, paperback, 110pp, 210x135mm. ISBN 978-1-8384052-2-9 rrp £9.99 Published 2021 by Rymour Books, 45 Needless Road, Perth.PH2 OLE https://www.rymour.co.uk Cover design by Ian Spring Typeset in Bembo, printed & bound by Imprint Digital Seychelles Farm, Upton Pyne, Exteter. A CIP catalogue record for this book is availablefrom the British Library. Poet, scholar, singer, storyteller, artist; Sheena Blackhall is a prolific and much-admired author from the North-east of Scotland. This enthralling collection follows her life from rural Aberdeenshire to the far-flung corners of the world searching for poems. As the title, A Bard‘s Life, would suggest, it‘s a kind of autobiography. It‘s told as a sequence of poems and short stories, illustrated with family photos and her own drawings, with a preface by Alan Pence..

The Poems : Skin(2)

Title: Skin (2) : Pamphlet no 165, Cover: a detail from Michaelangelo’s Last Judgement. Published by Malfranteaux Concepts. Printed by Retro Overflow Copyright: Sheena Blackhall 2021. The cover is a detail from Michaelangelo’s Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel. It represents St Bartholomew holding his flayed skin, thought to be a portrait of Michaelangelo himself. In her Higher Art class Blackhall won the James McBey Art essay prize for her composition on Michaelangelo’s Last Judgement.

March 2021  

The Poems: Singing like Pavarotti

Title: Singing Like Pavarotti: Pamphlet no 164. Cover: Silent Scream: Surreal Photoshop Manipulation Tutorial.Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Printed by Retro Overflow Copyright: Sheena Blackhall February 2021 Limited Edition of 50 Thanks are due to Malfranteaux Concept for publishing this volume, and to the creator of the cover image.“I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.”― Rumi  

The Poems: An Infestation of Clocks

Title: An Infestation of Clocks: Pamphlet no 163 Cover:It isTime Photoshop Manipulation by njakkk (on pin interest) Published by Malfranteaux Concepts Printed by Retro Overflow Copyright: Sheena Blackhall January 2021

The Poems: The Pantheist

Acknowledgements:Title: The Pantheist (Pamphlet 162), Cover: Yoga Tree (in public domain),Published by Malfranteaux Concepts,Printed by Repro Overflow, Aberdeen December 2020 Two of the poems were written to perform at a Xmas event to be filmed at Saint Machar’s Cathedral. John Bett and Fiona Kennedy are producing VSA’s ‘A Guid Noel’ at St Machar’s Cathedral on Tuesday 15th December. All lockdown rules will be observed. The programme will be celebrating 150 years of VSA.

The Poems: Mind Spaghetti for a Rainy Day

Title: Mind Spaghetti for a Rainy Day (Pamphlet 161)Cover Design : clip art,Published by Malfranteaux Concepts,Printed by Repro Overflow, Aberdeen Acknowledgements:I was lucky in childhood in having a grandmother and father who loved me unconditionally. Indeed, it was more than love, I was cherished. My brother, on the other hand, was cherished by our mother. Oddly, both my brother Ian & myself were overly ambitious, well beyond our talents. He aimed to become a famous concert pianist. My ambition was to go to Paris, become a famous artist, maybe even found a painting dynasty. Both of our ambitions crashed and burned. He ended up as a chartered accountant, I diverted into writing. The careers we cherished, perished. Our ‘second starts’ did not hold us in the same tenacious grip, although neither of us forgot our father’s statement: ‘Naebody’s interested in fa comes second. It’s winnin that matters.’ Sheena Blackhall November 2020 (It is important) ‘not to love too much, for he knew the injury that a father can do to a daughter or a mother to a son by attaching them too closely: afterward, out in the world, the child would seek in the marriage partner the same blind tenderness and, failing probably to find it, turn against love and life.’ From Babylon Revisited  

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

The Owersetts: The Itchy Coo Book o Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales in Scots

The Itchy Coo Book of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales in Scots By (author) Martin Waddell; Edited by James Robertson; Edited by Matthew Fitt; Introduction by Julia Donaldson; Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark. ISBN 978-1-78530-313-5 2020 This classic collection brings together nine favourite stories, The Little Mermaid, translated by Sheena Blackall is the final story.