Sheena Blackhall Poems

1.Hame- Drauchtit

There's waur-aff fowk;
I've a hoose, an a rikkin lum,
...

I am Ilona. I am 9 years old
My neighbours harvest weeds and grass to boil
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1.The Gweedman's Craft

Shaman, seannachie, deevilock, Deil
Clootie, Hornie, shameless cheil
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1.Daith o a Matriarch

She lay in her kist like a towrist packed fur leavin
Her single ticket stamped tae the warld o air
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1.Heistin the Deid
In 2007 archaeologists in Oseberg, southern Norway dug up a Viking queen, thought to be called Asa, after 1,200 years

In peetiless rain, in Oseberg, suddron Norwye
...

The bus stalled at a pot-hole
I watched through the steamed-up window
An old woman pause to squat.
Lifting her colourful sari
...

Moon snags on branches,
Stars are snow seeds
Blown across the black-bull hide of night;
Earth catches paw-prints
...

Into the silent water, slips the silent prow
Lifting the dripping anchor over the tilting bow.

There's no star on the skyline, past the silver moon
...

The citadels of sand rise up
Magnificent and grand:
And every step of crystal glass
Towers up above the years of grass
...

Tho I've never met it, I know that Heaney's pen
Is whimsical. It's got a mind of its own,
One of those lyrical trap door minds
You walk across, and Poof you're in the basement.
...