Kevin Macneil Deeply Counter-Productive

ISSN 1754-1514 lucidity of its opinions as for its continuing relevance, de-romanticises insular life and culture:

The Thus the islander is seen as the pawky ferryman whom one meets at the entrance to the enchanted Bottle land of summer, when the country to which he be- longs is beautiful and slightly hazy, a place for a holiday. After this interlude, the real world with its Imp constant grind and envy and ambition is waiting for us, but it is nice to think that the islanders exist behind and beyond it, as a haven beyond the sharp rocks which await us. Issue 21, July 2017 Portable Rootedness and Other Many and varied types of otherness are Contradictions: Some Thoughts on foisted upon islanders; these can provide Contemporary Hebridean Poetry material for poetry, yes, but they can also be Kevin MacNeil deeply counter-productive. Thus, the poet is fighting external pressures, assumptions, ste- n this informal, inexhaustive essay I shall reotypes, even before she has begun to put reflect on continuing challenges and recent ink on paper. Idevelopments in Hebridean poetry, con- Smith criticises the narrow, patronising centrating especially on the six years that portrayals of islanders one encounters in have elapsed since the publication of These books such as Whisky Galore and the novels Islands, We Sing: An Anthology of Scottish of Lillian Beckwith – simple, comical charac- Islands Poetry (Polygon, 2011). As I wrote in ters who speak a language no islander has my introduction to that book: ever spoken. By a process of insidious osmo- sis, these publications, bolstered by external Poetry is grossly undervalued today, and even dedi- perceptions of them, seep into the islander’s cated readers sometimes overlook the dispropor- consciousness as reminders of who we are tionate excellence of twentieth- and twenty-first- (but never really were), and of who we are century poetry from the Scottish isles: a strange seen to be - and the boundaries dissolve with confluence of self-defeating injustices. I believe an injustice that is tacit, invisible and lasting. this is the first poetry anthology of its kind – that Before committing words to page, the is, one with a remit wide enough to bring in writing Hebridean poet must first of all make their from any Scottish island, but distinct enough not to way through a tired old labyrinth. Smith says: include Highland or other mainland work. The choices for the gifted islanders are more poign- That this was the first anthology with such ant and frequent than they would be in a more set- a remit was faintly embarrassing, while it tled land, for each choice appears to involve alle- strengthened my assertion that poetry from giance or disloyalty. the Scottish islands is generally and unfairly neglected. The problem goes deeper still. For you can I wish to begin by emphasising that being write poems of the utmost integrity – true a poet in or from the Hebrides presents a to your heart, your mind, your worldview, specific set of challenges. One must grapple your craft, your experience – but they might with helpful and hopeless contradictions. It nonetheless be considered disloyal by a paro- is inordinately difficult for Hebridean poets chial reader, one who willfully or otherwise to start with a page that is truly blank. I was misinterprets the poem (and, likely, in an disconcerted and pleased many years ago to insular Scotland, misinterprets the poet). The find sober affirmation of this thorny truth in Hebridean poet must often withstand assump- an important essay by Iain Crichton Smith, tions relating to poetry, the poet’s own poetry, ‘Real People in a Real Place’ (written in 1982 and the poet him- or herself. and first published inTowards The Human, The general characteristics of Gaelic Macdonald Publishers, 1986). Smith’s long Hebridean poetry are summarized by Ronald essay, as remarkable for the strength and Black in the introduction to his anthology An

www.thebottleimp.org.uk The Bottle Imp is the ezine of the Scottish Writing Exhibition www.scottishwriting.org.uk and is published by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies www.asls.org.uk 1 Tuil: Anthology of Twentieth Century Gaelic – especially when one considers how gratify- Verse (Birlinn, 1999). Traditional (Gaelic) ingly many talented poets there are living and poetry is typified by rhyme, melody, ‘occa- writing in, say, Shetland. sional intellectual inconsistency’, wordiness, One recent, and very welcome, develop- an audience that is primarily local. Modern ment in Scottish literature is the creation of poetry tends towards free verse, dissemi- Tuath, a Gaelic supplement to the free literary nation via print (or online), ‘some artistic publication Northwords Now. This is likely to snobbery’, ‘tight logic or no logic at all’, a have a beneficial impact upon Hebridean writ- target audience of ‘anyone’. The traditional ing – and indeed the first issue, edited by the bard often lived ‘at home’ (poets self-evi- multilingual poet Rody Gorman, includes con- dently live at home – Black is using ‘home’ tributions from Hebrideans Màiri NicGumaraid, in the islander’s sense of true/original/last- Maoilios Caimbeul and Pàdraig MacAoidh. ing (that is, island) home); the bard had little In her essay ‘Beachdan’ (‘Opinions’), experience of higher education and was often NicGumaraid writes: non-literate (never illiterate). By contrast, the contemporary poet is I wonder if there isn’t something inveterately skill- ‘seldom living at home’, is university-edu- ful, if not wholly dishonourable, in the ability to cated, literate in Gaelic, and has excellent faze, or freeze, out one’s own intellectual herit- English. The latter description certainly age – in order to blend in with the opinions, and applies to many of the newer Hebridean the values placed upon the opinions, of someone poets, such as Babs NicGriogair and Pàdraig else. If there is, I’d say the native Gael probably MacAoidh. has it down to a fine art. The “I kent his faither” Innovations in writing form and technique syndrome which so long plagued the arts and airts do not come about easily – and it is important of mainland Scots and Scotland for decades, if not here to acknowledge that the islands are qui- centuries, has had its equivalent in the “offshore is- etly renowned for their small-c conservatism, lands” in the form of “Who do they think they are?” with its attendant benefits and disadvantages. Always a difficult question. Who indeed. The crux of Smith’s essay (from a writer’s point of view) comes when he contemplates Plus ça change. The difficult points Iain the ‘snake pit of contradictions’ that his own Crichton Smith raised in his essay in 1982 are life has been, due to ‘an accident of geog- still very much with us. raphy and a hostile history’. He makes an Who, then, are the exceptions, the unforgettable statement, one whose reso- Hebridean poets who overcome the internal nance is still felt today by Hebridean writers: and external obstacles and find their way to publication? I envy […] those poets who have developed in a Aonghas ‘Dubh’ MacNeacail, Aonghas stable society, who can start from there and are Pàdraig Caimbeul, Rody Gorman, Anna Frater, not constantly analyzing the very bases of their art. Maoilios Caimbeul, Dòmhnall S. Moireach, and Babs NicGriogair are among the writers Smith is partly referring here to what is who explore these problems against the vast sometimes called ‘the paralysis of analysis’ theme of diaspora in a bilingual collection – a sense of stasis that settles troublingly of essays and commissioned poems called over one’s efforts, replacing dynamism with Struileag: Cladach gu Cladach/Struileag: doubt, a fatalistic and unwanted compulsion Shore to Shore (Polygon, 2015). Most of to go back to first principles every time one these names, of course, are familiar – writers attempts to write. This is substantially the whose voices are distinctive, whose contribu- human, true-life result of the ‘othering’ of tion is assured. island culture, and of the ‘marginalising’ and The poets in the Struileag anthology must the ‘silencing’ that I refer to in These Islands, negotiate their relationship with tradition and We Sing. innovation (‘make it new’), local issues and These problems are real. When one adds global interdependence, history and, to one to them a natural concern over how the writ- extent or another, autobiography. The poems ing will be perceived by the local community are diverse – encompassing secular psalms, – family, friends, neighbours – perhaps the raps and that all-too-rare Japanese form wonder is that Hebridean poets exist at all. incorporating prose and haiku, the haibun. They do so in frustratingly small numbers The result is a refreshing mix of the familiar

www.thebottleimp.org.uk The Bottle Imp is the ezine of the Scottish Writing Exhibition www.scottishwriting.org.uk and is published by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies www.asls.org.uk 2 and the provocative; an accompanying CD, Gregory Award, a Robert Louis Stevenson which sets the poems to music (folk, rap, Fellowship, the Edwin Morgan Poetry Prize etc.) has a similar atmosphere of passion, and the Saltire First Book of the Year Award. edginess and innovation. It is not just that Niall Campbell demonstrates One of the themes explored in the great potential, but that he is actively fulfill- Struileag project is exile; historically, of ing his promise – which is gladdening and course, this is a loaded word. In current encouraging to witness. times, even in a digital age, it is often incum- In These Islands, We Sing I ventured to bent upon poets to leave their home island make a few predictions about the future of and acclimatize to a new place, a new cul- Hebridean writing. I imagined we would see ture. A poet, native Gaelic speaker and peace poets writing more works of prose (as has activist from Lewis, Babs NicGriogair refers to happened – for example, recent non-fiction herself as an urban Gael, or a Stornoweegie works have appeared from Dòmhnall S. (cleverly juxtaposing Stornowegian and Moireach, Ian Stephen, Maoilios Caimbeul). Weegie, an informal term for a Glaswegian). Regrettably, we have not seen an upswing in ‘My external points of reference are differ- the publication of novels by Hebrideans (but ent, but the moral compass remains very that’s another essay in itself). Performance much the same,’ she says. ‘I feel strongly that poetry has grown exponentially in popularity urban Gaelic poetry can have a revitalising within Scotland over the last few years, and part to play in Scotland’s identity at this par- Hebridean performance poets are emerging ticular juncture in time, and hope that I may – see, for example, Kirsty Nicolson’s poem be able to contribute to its flourishing – in a about Multiple Sclerosis, as featured on the contemporary cityscape that has a vibrant BBC’s website. Hebridean diaspora amongst many others.’ I don’t have space to discuss, or even This level of self-awareness, and accom- name, all the Hebridean poets who are pub- panying sense of portable rootedness, is not lishing occasionally in magazines, though I uncommon among contemporary Hebridean have high hopes for the likes of Karin Slater poets. Pàdraig MacAoidh, originally from and for the as-yet-unknown Niall Campbells Lewis, now lectures at the University of St of tomorrow. Andrews. He has written a fine (and non- The current state of Hebridean poetry, hagiographical) academic book on the work of then, is cause for guarded dismay and open Sorley Maclean (Sorley Maclean, AHRC 2010), joy. Dismay because old problems are proving a pamphlet From Another Island (Clutag more deeply entrenched than would be desir- Press, 2010) and a full collection Gu Leòr able, joy because there are poets achieving (Acair, 2015). His is one of the most lively success despite these. and informed of voices in the world of con- In Douglas Dunn’s words, ‘poetry’s cost temporary Hebridean poetry. MacAoidh has is always exorbitant’; maybe, then, the best recently co-edited, along with the multilingual poets are inevitable. Canadian Gael, poet Iain S. Mac a’ Phearsain, I’d like to finish by celebrating the work of an anthology of transgressive Gaelic poetry a brilliant and under-appreciated poet who (An Leabhar Liath: 500 Years of Gaelic Love died in March of this year, aged eighty-six. and Transgressive Verse, Luath 2016). Donald MacAulay has always been revered by Transgressive, yes – and progressive, too. those who appreciate his work. Iain Crichton Arguably the most impressive recent Smith called MacAulay ‘an exceptionally sensi- breakthrough in Hebridean poetry is the pub- tive and complicated man’ (one might use the lication in 2014 of Niall Campbell’s Moontide same words to describe ICS himself). Unlike (Bloodaxe Books). A Poetry Book Society Smith, MacAulay was not a prolific writer. He recommendation, Moontide is a (monolingual, wrote a careful, measured poetry that had, English) collection that genuinely marked and has, lasting depth. One of MacAulay’s the emergence of a major poetic talent. The final poems appears in the debut edition of book – rich with Hebridean tropes and an Tuath, alongside an admiring salute from emotional profundity – is exceptional not Rody Gorman. only in its high-calibre poetry but in that it ‘Do Chuilean dhan Ainm Oscar’ / ‘To a Dog has achieved the recognition it deserves. Called Oscar’, which references Lermontov, is Campbell (an Uibhisteach, or Uist man, now a compassionate and moving poem about a resident in Leeds) has been awarded an Eric characterful dog. It ends:

Donald MacAulay’s work is long overdue a full appraisal. MacAulay was not an unsung hero – he sang and was sung, but was, is, heard by too few.

Kevin MacNeil is a novelist, screenwriter, editor and poet. He lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Stirling. His most recent book is the Saltire Award-shortlisted The Brilliant & Forever (‘It’s a joy to reach such an engaging, luminous novel’ – The Guardian).

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www.thebottleimp.org.uk The Bottle Imp is the ezine of the Scottish Writing Exhibition www.scottishwriting.org.uk and is published by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies www.asls.org.uk 4