A smile. A simple, unsought pleasure. A wondering thought that lets you wander from the daily rant and rage. A poem for today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you to the Scottish Poetry Library (SPL) for the Poem of the Moment<\/a>. It is a constantly changing treat. By the time you read this the moment and the mood may well be entirely different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But today it is Rachel McCrum\u2019s heartlifting Glassblower Dances<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People smiled. And for a moment felt something in their chests had loosened and wondered about things that did not touch their lives.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n On yet another day when headlines of old and new media hammer home the madness and mayhem of 2018 politics, here\u2019s a chance to wonder. To let different words swirl and swell. SPL\u2019s poem of the moment is, incidentally, the very same poem that Sceptical Scot chose<\/a> for an unexpected message of cheer at the end of the seismic year of 2016. The pure pleasure of the \u2018alchemy of changing dirt into something fluid, strong and beautiful\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel McCrum was a big presence in Scotland\u2019s spoken word scene from 2012 until 2017 (she was the Broad of Rally and Broad the Edinburgh-based cabaret). She now lives and works in Montreal, Quebec, where she is the director of bilingual poetry-text-performance series, Les Cabarets Batards. But as co-founder of Stewed Rhubarb Press<\/a> her presence is still felt, seen and heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is back in Edinburgh on Tuesday 24 July <\/a>when Stewed Rhubarb Press, publishers of the Glassblower Dances, will launch republications of work by Rachel McCrum and Harry Giles with live performances by the poets. Stewed Rhubarb: Past and Present<\/a>, ‘celebrating the cutting edge of Scottish spoken word\u2019 is at SPL and the programme includes Jenny Lindsey of Flint and Pitch and folk musician Kirsty Law. (Tickets from Eventbrite) <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n And all this happened because once upon a time someone though to write upon a wall with joy<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n
Live performance in Edinburgh<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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