A selection of five poems for this general election in hard times. To shine a light on our better nature, to remember how many different people are responding to the urgent issues of 2019 with human kindness, concern, and courageous conscience.
Truth springs from poetry…and dangerous women
For Nadine Aisha Jassat, poetry is activism. She used to used to whisper, “‘I’m a poet’, now I shout it from the rooftops and help others on their journey to shouting who they are, too.”
Who’s it for – yon McMenace?
“So they come and see what the McManus has to offer and then the museum changes from something ‘we can do’ with our kids to ‘this is something we NEED to do with our kids.’”
Aspects of Edinburgh (and Dundee)
‘Makar: Stewart Conn prefers “that term’s more egalitarian ring than ‘laureate’, with its whiff of Parnassus.” Down on the ground, a poet among people not stuck up, high on the Mountain of Muses.’
Once more with feeling: rediscovering local history ‘from the ground up’
Change is a constant fact of city life but Fay Young finds a sense of place endures in a digital archive of local history, told by local people. ‘These Leithers – born or made – sound connected to a place that matters.’
What are we stumbling into?
The Far Right made some big gains in the euro elections as angry voters backed anti-EU/nativist parties. Back to the 1930s? Amsterdam holds lessons
Not just a pretty facade: Glasgow heritage has a beating heart
Those derelict buildings? Those fire-razed sites? What’s the city plan? Professor Johnny Rodger and DJ Jim Gellatly have a provocative suggestion for Glasgow.
Best Scottish Poetry offers escape to reality
Claire Askew’s delightful poem, is it escape or reality? Thanks to the noxious ill wind of Brexit, it seems, there’s a new demand for words with meaning, or meaningful ambiguity. Where better to find it than Best Scottish Poetry.
Open up: the emotional museum
What better time could there be to explore what shapes our identities? Fay Young goes in search of the emotional museum
Edinburgh Makars mak mischief in Poetry Garden
Taking a break from Brexit Fay Young finds subversive mischief in the poetry of Edinburgh Makars, as performed in Edinburgh’s Poetry Garden (aka St Andrew Square)