tanzaku

poem labels, photograph by Caroline Dear, 2011

High Pasture Cave, Skye

Comhlan Bheanntan | A Company of Mountains

oystercatcher, trilleachan

ho-o ri bho  ho rinn eile  u-bhil u-bhil

ho-o ri bho  ho rinn eile  u-bhil u-bhil

trilleachan - - trilleachan

red-bill-red-bill

trilleachan - - trilleachan

red-bills-peeping

trilleachan - - trilleachan

red-leg - - red-leg

trilleachan - - trilleachan

red-legs-flitting

to & fro

at the edge

of the surge

shh - shh - sshhh

shh - shhh - sshhhh

in between waves

eddies & fluxus

forms fade

as you fetch us

as you take us

up-up - - up-up

as you rise

up-up - - up-up

as you full-fill

our eye-eyes

as you swell

our gaze

as your whistles

call & cut

cut & call

through the silence

kleep-kleep - - kleep-kleep

coming in to shore

kleep-kleep - - kleep-kleep

take us up-up

kleep-kleep - - kleep-kleep

swift wing us

kleep-kleep - - kleep-kleep

sound the alarm

kleep-kleep - - kleep-kleep

swing us along the divide

kleep-kleep - - kleep-kleep

back out to sea

trilleachan - - trilleachan

flight us to & fro

the black & white shore-

line of your

Atlantic markings

find the amplitude

of the surge

ward

the shingle strand

guard

the even sand

wade

out loud

calling in the tide

trilleachan - - trilleachan

tilt the compass

trilleachan - - trilleachan

will you - - will us

trilleachan - - trilleachan

will you - - rouse us

trilleachan - - trilleachan

induce us

trilleacham - - trilleacham

into strangeness

ho-o ri bho  ho rinn eile  u-bhil u-bhil

This poem is a draft composed in response to Hanna Tuulikki's collaborative project

for the isle of Canna, air falbh leis na h-eoin / away with the birds. The vocables are imitations of an oystercatcher, trilleachan, from a traditional Gaelic song; this and other examples form the basis of Tuulikki's composition.