Deliberate Sunshine by Jean Taylor

 

Jean Taylor is an Edinburgh based poet, who comes along to one of the writing groups I facilitate. She's very modest about her talents and I hadn't realised she had written this book, until I found a copy in the free poetry library in the Diggers Pub (an Edinburgh pub that has a poet in residence and regular poetry events). So I read a few of the poems and then returned the book to the free poetry library. Once I got home, I ordered my own copy from the publisher, Black Agnes Press, a small poetry press based in Dunbar, East Lothian. 

This is a book of poetry about family, grief and growing up, written with an eye for telling detail and the beauty of nature. The title Deliberate Sunlight comes from a phrase in the short poem Solar.

Sibling relationships are explored in Sibling Rivalry Shadorma and from a genetic point of view in Genetic Variations, which looks at inheritance of characteristics within the narrator's family. Too Short a Date (subtitled Letter to a Sister) is full of a shared enthusiasm for flowers, many of which hold specific family memories: 

Germander Speedwells
like tiny blue stars - for me, their petals
hold our mother, young and slender
through her warm summer days.

Summer Blood details the narrator having her first period on a beach holiday, describing the "summer rowan redness" and ending with her "practising for the possibility of being a woman."

A visit to Newington Graveyard, 14 January, 2019 meditates on some of the gravestones, including "a fallen angel, nose in the air", while "long brushed / foxes appear and eyeing me, disappear". 

Several of the poems in the collection focus on the grief of losing a loved one, with Mayday perfectly capturing the sense of disorientation: 

Living without him is like flying
without instruments
towards an unlit airstrip
in a remote landscape. 

The collection aptly (for a book called Deliberate Sunshine) ends with the image of daffodils, bought for:

the joy
of watching them
becoming sunlight.

Hope and the beauty of nature shining through grief.

 

Deliberate Sunshine by Jean Taylor, published (2019) by Black Agnes Press. 

Otterly Amazing!

It was pouring down yesterday morning, but we donned our waterproofs and went for a walk along the Water of Leith. We hadn't walked far from our starting point at Roseburn, before we saw two Grey Herons on the riverbank, obviously fishing, but standing much closer together than You'd expect Grey Herons to be, outside of their crowded heronries. 

Near where the river passes the Galleries of Modern Art, another heron was perched, steadily looking into the water. We followed the bird's eyes and noticed an Otter! This Otter then rushed around the weir, running up and down, swimming around and eventually running back up the weir with something in its mouth (a fish perhaps, but neither of us got a good enough look to be sure). Crafty Green Boyfriend took this photo, which is admittedly blurred, as the Otter was rushing too fast to be caught clearly. 

Otters live along the Water of Leith and can often be seen along the river's length, but they're always a wonderful animal to see and this was one of my best ever encounters, proving it's always worthwhile going for a walk even if the weather doesn't look promising!

The Alchemy of Night

Those specks we call stars
are the fire embers
of spirits leaving bodies.

The bridges of the city shake
under quaking neon clouds.

Everything is about to collapse.

Even the stars. 

 

originally published on Shot Glass Journal. 

Fat Squirrels Feast in Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens

We had a lovely walk round Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens on Saturday. We noticed that most of the Grey Squirrels seemed rather on the large size, they must be feeding themselves well for the impending winter...

We also visited Inverleith Park where we found this beautiful duck, actually a domestic Mallard (you can read about the variations in plumage of so called manky mallards on the 10 000 birds website.)

Alchemy by Rae Spencer

 

I was asked to review this book a while ago and I started reading it immediately, but have only just finished it because after almost every poem I had to put the book aside to think about what I'd just read. 

Divided into sections that mirror the sections of a scientific report (Introduction, Methodologies, Results, Discussion, Conclusion) this is an ambitious second collection from US veterinarian and poet Rae Spencer. Covering a wide range of topics from science, it is thought-provoking, beautifully written and well worth reading slowly so you can savour the words. 

From the opening poem 'Expansion' which uses Alice in Wonderland to explore ideas around space and time, the reader is taken on a scientific adventure. Charles Darwin is quoted in Means of Dispersal which looks at his scientific studies of seeds.  The poems also question science, in Progress, makes the point that the search for the Unified Theory of Everything 'doesn't postulate / Why we need to know / Everything'. My House is On Fire beautifully compares ladybirds to constellations 'an ambling zodiac of seven spots'. Pelagic Study looks at shoals of fish: 'schooled in the notion / that same means safe'.

As well as the poet's eye and ear for a memorable phrase, I particularly admire her use of enjambment, where the meaning runs on and changes subtly from one line to the next, here's just one example from Luminiferous Ether, which is about the ether that early scientists proposed as the substance that carried light:

galactic coordinates and mapped
against math 

where the reader imagines one meaning for mapped when reading the first line alone, but the context changes as you read the next line. 

Other poems examine or speculate about a wealth of biological and othe scientific topics including: early human ancestors, cave art and the evolution of human communication, fungal communication, animal instincts and the life cycles of cicadas. 

This would be a wonderful Christmas gift for any scientifically minded poetry fans out there, and for those who aren't scientifically minded it may well ignite an interest in the sciences. 

Alchemy by Rae Spencer, published by Kelsay Books (2024)

** 

Alchemy includes the poem The Plume, which was first published on Bolts of Silk, the poetry journal that I used to edit.

Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.  

Read my review of Rae's debut collection Watershed here. 

It's been Snowing!

We hadn't been quite sure whether to believe the forecast for snow, but it did snow yesterday. We were determined to get out there and enjoy the snow while it lasted, but all the buses in Edinburgh were cancelled by the time we left the flat, so we contented ourselves with a walk round North Merchiston Cemetery, which looked lovely in the snow. 

Frosty Leaves

It was -5 this morning! That's cold! Slightly later in the day, when it had warmed up to -1, I took these frosty photos in a local park on the way to teaching a haiku class.

Crows and Flowers on Arthur's Seat

We had a lovely walk around Arthur's Seat yesterday. 

 The sky was wonderful, changing from this blue, decorated with delicate clouds 

to this overcast sky with the clouds lower down being lit up beautifully by the sun 

The Ravens were very noticeable, calling loudly as they flew around and being mobbed by large numbers of Jackdaws. The bird in the lower part of the photo below is a Raven, the others are Jackdaws

Both these birds are crows, the Raven is the largest of the crow family and uncommon in Scotland, though they nest on Arthur's Seat. Jackdaws are common, small crows with greyish heads and white eyes. 

There were a surprising number of flowers blooming around the hill, including Knapweed

Yarrow 

and Viper's Bugloss

Autumn Colour and Fungi along the Water of Leith

 I was pleased to find these fungi in Craiglockart Dells, alongside the Water of Leith. 

Oyster fungi 

 

Purple Disc Fungi

 

The autumn colours are still beautiful, although most of the leaves have fallen from many of the trees, we've had some high winds in the past couple of weeks. 

The light was beautiful too, giving the leaves a wonderful glow.

 

Swans on the River, Rabbits on the Golf Course

On Saturday we walked from Haymarket to Corstorphine, taking the scenic route, which includes Carrick Knowe Golf course and the Water of Leith. We watched this Mute Swan and it's companion Mallards swimming along the river

and three female Goosanders were sitting on rocks in the river, though we couldn't get all of them into the photo

 The golf course has a wooded perimeter path, which was looking beautiful

There's a rabbit warren somewhere in the golf course and often you can see lots of rabbits, but on Saturday we only saw this cute young bunny, who let us get fairly close before hopping away into the undergrowth

Wood Blewit Toadstool

 I was very happy to find this toadstool in Craiglockart Dell alongside the Water of Leith today. It's a Wood Blewit, quite easy to recognise with it's purple colour (though there are other purple fungi). 

 

 

Autumn Colour in Saughton Park

 We enjoyed the autumnal colours in Edinburgh's Saughton Park yesterday. Here are some of the highlights:

Comely Bank Cemetery

 The weather was so lovely this morning that I had a wander around Comely Bank cemetery. 

You can see photos of my previous visits to this cemetery here. 

Meanwhile, you may be interested in Inspiring Fungi, the latest post in my Substack blog.

Autumn on Corstorphine Hill

 We had a lovely walk round Corstorphine Hill yesterday. 

We were intrigued to find a couple of faces on some of the trees, this is just one of them

There were plenty of fungi to see in some parts of the hill, including these puffballs

and this waxcap

We watched this Common Buzzard flying around for a while, obviously checking out the area for prey!

We were intrigued by these little passageways in the grass, which may be the entrances to tunnels used by voles, as we know there are plenty of voles around the hill (though they're rarely actually seen).

Bird-watching for Beginners

She could be anyone, this beautiful stranger.
She’s staring across the street.

At first, you think it’s you she’s staring at
(perhaps you’re getting lucky?)
but then you realise, no
she’s staring at something behind you.

You look round but all you can see
are birds.

Birds?

Why is a beautiful woman staring at birds?

You shake your head and carry on
to your office where you sign
a warrant to log
another forest.

 

originally published in the Birds Zine from Coin Operated Press. 

Autumnal Walk

 Yesterday we had a lovely walk round Blackford Pond, past Blackford Hill and into the Hermitage of Braid. It was beautiful autumnal weather.

This Speckled Wood Butterfly was basking in the sunshine 

while on the pond, we saw a female teal (the small brown duck in the photo below, with a female mallard partly in the photo in the background for size comparison)

The teal has a lovely teal green flash of feathers in her wing, but wasn't showing it while we were taking her photo. We did see it later from the other side of the pond, when we were too far away to catch her on film! We were also interested to see a family of dabchicks! One of the parents and one of the chicks are in the photo below.

This whole area is a delight at this time of year.