Petra Kenney Presentation 2008

Upper photo
Receiving my trophy for First Prize in the General Section of the Petra Kenney Poetry Competition 2008, Canada House, the Canadian High Commission, London. My poem is a sestina called 'The Figure at the Phoenix Mine'.


Lower photo
Receiving my prize from Dannie Abse. Alison Chisholm, one of the judges, is also in the picture. The other judges were Michael Schmidt, John Whitworth and Morgan Kenney.

Photos © Malcolm Chisholm 2008 (used with permission).
Thank you, Malcolm.

Of poppies and poetry

It was interesting to see the war memorial, featuring the name of Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae (1872-1918) at Eilean Donan Castle, not far from the Skye Bridge. Canadian born McCrae wrote one of the best loved poems about the Great War, In Flanders Fields.









The setting of Eilean Donan is quite magical - even in the rain!

Scottish Clan Blog?

More to come on this post later, but has anyone found a blogspot about Scottish clans? Thank you!

Green ... is the colour

Coming soon!
I visited the Edited Guide Entry on the BBC site for thoughts on the colour green.

Otters on Skye

We spent hours on Skye, gazing across the lochs in the hope that we would see an otter.

The first otter we saw was made of bronze! It was the work of Laurence Broderick, and the otter in question was Gavin Maxwell's Teko. The sculpture by Kyleakin harbour was donated to the Eilean Bàn Trust for the Bright Water Visitor Centre.

We thought we caught sight of a real otter in the harbour at Kyleakin; but as you can see, the intense, atmospheric light was not at its best for otter-spotting! The 'creature' appeared and disappeared along the floating seaweed strands to the right of Caisteal Maol (Castle Moil or Moyle).

The castle probably dates from the 15th century, but the Saucy Mary version of its origin is far more compelling.

Postscript: in the course of finding out about Broderick, I came across the site on Blaven, one of the munros on Skye. It has features on the John Muir Trust and early postcards of Skye.

WIithin Reach ...

Thank you, Ronnie: Reach Poetry has arrived! Why not take a look at issue 121 for a whistle-stop tour: there are poems about Australia, England, Egypt, Scotland, Spain, Wales ... and even Arcadia!

The Poets who blog site has just been added to my favourites.

I have just come across the Contemporary Sonnet website. It looks good.

Misty Mountains

Cuillin sunset, looking towards Broadford Bay from the road to Kylerhea: it was extraordinary to watch the mountain tops fade in and out of the picture as the cloud patterns changed the silhouettes. We finally got to see a hint of 'red sky at night' on our last evening on Skye. Once the sun had set, the silhouettes became more intense; but the light in the sky became very pale - like dawn - before darkness eventually descended.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Skye Guide - a most informative site, with links to Aurora Watch and the Midge Forecast! I particularly like the Skye quotations on the top right of each page.