Towards Easthaven and all the way the path bordered in hawthorn, heavy with clusters of deep-red fruit and determined holly bushes, the brittle sunlight pinned to their leaves and a dog rose still stubbornly in flower as if summer hadn’t left us far behind and the late October horizon shivers like crumpled tinfoil out beyond…
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Rewilding I go down to the bottom of my road, past the sports pavilion and old mill-house. Through a gap in the hedge, an unsteady path leads to a shingle beach where the Turret meets the Earn. black alder, butterbur, common hazel, wych elm This is a quiet place, frequented by dogwalkers, occasional joggers…
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Schiehallion, photo by Richard Webb, Wikimedia Commons James Robertson is a poet and prose writer who has lived in Angus for 22 years. His novels include Joseph Knight, The Testament of Gideon Mack, And the Land Lay Still and News of the Dead. He is currently writing a history of Scotland for Yale University Press.
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How to pick an apple Choose a day when you feel like being part of something bigger. Let an apple come-hither you, reach up and – lightly! – cup it. Lift it a little and feel in your hand the weight – of a swelling blossom bud, of the luck that kept the frost away,…
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Who am I? I’m no show-off, modest me, crawling the shady shallows of the burn where you’ll not notice me. If I also keep the trout fooled for one year, I’ll change my form and shape, leave behind my case, and break the burn’s shimmering surface with brand new wings. I’m no show-off, modest me,…
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A Living History A man cleared a piece of land named it field, called it his own. He lifted me from there, stacked me here. With his hammer he gentled a slope into my back, notched me against heartstone and throughstone, named us dyke. We live quietly: Wren and Robin, Cushion Moss and Hedgehog, Waxcap…
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An Imaginarium is a space devoted to fostering, stimulating, and cultivating the imagination and creativity. Imagination is one of the most underused yet urgently needed capacities for seeing beyond the immediate and innovating amid the ongoing, systemic, and interconnected crises affecting both people and the living landscapes we depend on. Beyond preparing us for the…
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