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A review by arirang
Northern Alchemy by Christine De Luca
3.0
The latest book from the excellent Republic of Consciousness book club, Northern Alchemy by Christine De Luca is a collection of poems written in Shetlandic, with the author's conventional English renditions shown
From the blurb:
Shetlandic is a unique ‘dialect’ or language, a blend of Old Scots with strong Norse vocabulary and sound; the most distinctive within Scotland. Nordic poets, when they hear it, describe it as a ‘cousin language’.
There are already 4 excellent appreciations of the collection on Goodreads from four of my favourite reviewers and supporters of innovative literature from small presses:
Jackie: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3204909614
Neil: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3230700446
Robert: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3202007539
Alan: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3217548373
And the book club's own appreciation is here:
https://www.republicofconsciousness.com/the-conch/2020/3/26/march-book-of-the-month-northern-alchemy
Although much of the collection focuses on nature, the poem that most leaps to mind is 'Sam but different' which addresses the issue of the bilinguality of the islands and of these poems:
Hae’in, fae de start, mair es ee wye o spaekin
o makkin sense o things, we laern ta fit
what we say ta whit’s lippened. Takk peety apö dem
at’s born ta wan tongue: dem at nivver preeve
maet fae idder tables. Raised wi twa languages
is unconscious faestin: twa wyes o tinkin.
Een extends da tidder; can shaa wis anidder wirld
yet foo aa wirlds is jöst da sam, but different
Same but different
Having, from the start, more than one way of speaking,
of making sense of things, we learn to fit
what we say to what’s expected. Take pity on those
born to one tongue: those who never taste even a morsel
from other tables. Raised with two languages
is unconscious feasting: two ways of thinking.
One extends the other; can show us another world
yet how all worlds are just the same, but different.
From the blurb:
Shetlandic is a unique ‘dialect’ or language, a blend of Old Scots with strong Norse vocabulary and sound; the most distinctive within Scotland. Nordic poets, when they hear it, describe it as a ‘cousin language’.
There are already 4 excellent appreciations of the collection on Goodreads from four of my favourite reviewers and supporters of innovative literature from small presses:
Jackie: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3204909614
Neil: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3230700446
Robert: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3202007539
Alan: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3217548373
And the book club's own appreciation is here:
https://www.republicofconsciousness.com/the-conch/2020/3/26/march-book-of-the-month-northern-alchemy
Although much of the collection focuses on nature, the poem that most leaps to mind is 'Sam but different' which addresses the issue of the bilinguality of the islands and of these poems:
Hae’in, fae de start, mair es ee wye o spaekin
o makkin sense o things, we laern ta fit
what we say ta whit’s lippened. Takk peety apö dem
at’s born ta wan tongue: dem at nivver preeve
maet fae idder tables. Raised wi twa languages
is unconscious faestin: twa wyes o tinkin.
Een extends da tidder; can shaa wis anidder wirld
yet foo aa wirlds is jöst da sam, but different
Same but different
Having, from the start, more than one way of speaking,
of making sense of things, we learn to fit
what we say to what’s expected. Take pity on those
born to one tongue: those who never taste even a morsel
from other tables. Raised with two languages
is unconscious feasting: two ways of thinking.
One extends the other; can show us another world
yet how all worlds are just the same, but different.