Bioregioning Tayside is proud to welcome poet Jim Mackintosh as their Makar.

The contemporary Bioregioning movement has strong connections to this ‘vital truth’ through the American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder, who played a pivotal role in the development and articulation of Bioregioning in the 1970’s and 1980’s through his promotion of a deep ecological awareness, his definition of community as place-based and multi-species and his argument for poetry as an embodied practice of community making.

Born and raised in Perthshire and currently residing in Perth, Jim is fundamentally a poet but also an Editor, Producer and Playwright. His poetry however, has always sprung from and been embedded in the communities of the Tay Bioregion where he has always understood the significance of place.

He is very active in a variety of poetry projects, both his own and in collaboration with a range of musicians, dancers, artists and other poets. He is a regular contributor to other publications and often features in both literary and music festivals with a wealth of experience in a range of poetry and themed activities such as workshops, poetry walks, and talks on his own work. He also provides support and champions the continued relevance of Hamish Henderson – of whom he has extensively written on – and the legacies of both William Soutar and Hugh Miller, the latter as a Committee member of the Friends of Hugh Miller.

Mackintosh has held residencies with other organisations: in 2021 he was the official Makar of the Federation of Writers Scotland and, from 2019 to 2025 he was Makar of the Cateran Ecomuseum where, amongst various other works he wrote poetry in response to large-scale art installations made in the highland landscapes of Perthshire and also his critically acclaimed Becoming Cailleach, a poetic response to the community focussed River Detectives project.

Come aa ye at hame with Freedom, the giant portrait of Hamish Henderson made by Tayside artist Martin McGuinness in Glenshee in 2019 with a specially commissioned poem from Jim Mackintosh.

So far, he has published six collections, edited four anthologies, including one to celebrate Hamish Henderson’s centenary (The Darg, Poet’s Republic Press 2019) and one on George Mackay Brown’s centenary co-edited by Paul Philippou (Beyond the Swelkie, Tippermuir Books 2021). Jim’s book The Banes o the Turas (Tippermuir Books 2023), his Scots translation of the Italian poetry of Pino Mereu inspired by Pino’s friendship with Hamish Henderson, was shortlisted for Scots Book of the Year, 2023 and in 2024, Jim was honoured with the award of Scots Writer of the Year.

Jim says: “Place and rhythm, edge and balance, the sky is an umbrella of endless possibilities and the solid ground which we share with every other being is a blank canvas of inspiration and wonder. Every time, I step out of my door whether to sit by the river, to inhale the bird song of woodlands, or walk through the landscapes of our decaying industrial past I find myself in the middle of a forest of place-based inspirations. We must never lose sight of life’s endless streams of character and it’s continued relevance to our lives. The realisation of the ordinary being the extraordinary is central to the work of a poet and I’m honoured and delighted to have been invited to become Bioregioning Tayside’s first Makar to continue that journey. ”

We are delighted to share his first poem for Bioregioning Tayside in his new role:

PRAY

When the Great Remembering overwhelms the paths
we thought would take us beyond tomorrow

we find ourselves covering less ground, embracing
what we have learned from the past – saving

ourselves from ourselves. Learning to standstill, to
inhale the wisdom of the survivors of our ignorance

Those who are willing to give up of their knowledge.
We would call you Gods if you’d accept our prayers.