11.5.13

Sweeney's Bothy, Bothan Shuibhne




















A full house couldn’t

be more lovely
than my little oratory
in Tuam Inbir

Where the stars are
set in their order
together with the sun & moon

A house where the rain
does not pour in
a place where spears
are no longer dreaded

My wee hut’s
as bright as a garden
but there’s no wall
to fence me in



after ‘The Pity of Nature’;
Suibhne's 'oratory' perched
in a blackthorn tree



























then the giddiness

came over Suibhne

intoxicated with horror,

panic, dismay, fear,
flightiness, giddiness, & terror

his joints a shaking mass

& he rose into the air




     

















the thorn is Sweeney's memory
   of the spear

the harsh brang of battle

is the riddle    our design must settle


the blackthorn drinks my blood again

my face bleeds on the sodden wood
thorns lace my sores

   – Trevor Joyce, Sweeny, Peregrine




   


            TIME

             tine



          THORN

               \


        SHELTER

             /\



      HAWTHORN

         schiltron












the thorn marks   Suibhne’s aloneness
which inspires us   & challenges us

how shall we bring   the thorn
   into translation?


























the morphology

of the thorn tree
is torn with intensity

the thorn
has its reason
in every season

the thorn proceeds

by throwing itself
out of symmetry




























the thorn is drawn

over and over again
reducing the blackthorn’s profusion
to a single articulation
   a figure




the thorn finds purpose
as pillar   or pilotis

the thorn turns its points   skywards
away from delicate flesh




























in our design
the thorn column suggested
extending the angled roof     outwards
    beyond the bothy walls

a space began to open
   a verandah 

a space within which

the thorn-pilotis
   would hover




in our discussions
we revised the thorn's position
shaping a screen

providing due protection

from the Atlantic winds
which whistle   twice around
   the cliffs














only when the revisions

are precise
will the bothy stand

square and plumb

on a hill   facing
a rugged mountain skyline






the hut-yet-to-be-built

has found its home
in the vale of Cleadale
on the Isle of Eigg

the furthest of the leaps

the outcast Sweeney made
in his mad journey
through the wilds





















Sweeney's wee hut

will have it's windows
faced to the west

aligned so as to be

filled with the massif
skyline of Rum
























the sun setting
silhouetting

the upslope

of Sgurr nan Gillean

the spear point

of Askival

Hallival

where the shearwaters
have their burrows

from behind the hut
will be sheltered

by the echoing curtain
of the cliffs of Beinn Bhuidhe




]






















between Camas Sgiotag
Bay of the Whisk
where the quartz sands
shrilly sing

Coig peighinnean
The Five-Penny Land

Lageorna
The Barley Hollow

and Sron na h-Iolaire
Promontory of the Eagle

the sharp point of the thorn
will be exchanged
for beak & wing
as we enter Sweeney's
aViform vision
    V



























to become

tree high
clamber the truth
of the tree
   trunk

through rafter-
branches
& canopies
of birdsong

to the cloud's

   ceiling






image credits


TBP bothy, Inshriach, Luke Allan, 2013; Shuibhne, Hanna Tuulikki, 2013;

blackthorn sketch, Alec Finlay, 2013; TIME / tine (for John Purser), Alec
Finlay, 2013; blackthorn sketch, Alec Finlay, 2013; pilotis, Iain Macleod
(TBP), after AF, 2013; sketches for Bothan Shuibhne, AF, 2013; Shuibhne,
Alec Finlay, 2013; Eigg from Skye, Hanna Tuulikki, 2013, Cleadale, Eigg,
and the beach, Lucy Conway, 2013; birdskulls (collection John Purser),
Hanna Tuulikki, 2013; birdsong, Alec Finlay, 2012; Carbeth, Morven Gregor;
Shuibhne, Hanna Tuulikki, 2013.

The poems draw on Trevor Joyce and Seamus Heaney's versions of the Shuibhne cycle, Sweeney Peregrine and Sweeney Astray.


Further reflections on huts and viewing are published here.





Bothan Shuibhne | Sweeney's Bothy

Alec Finlay & The Bothy Project, 2012-13

a new bothy for creative residencies
located on the Isle of Eigg

commissioned as part of Creative Scotland's
Year of Natural Scotland, 2013















Sweeny's Bothy: Thorns





TIME

tine


Suibhne's wounded mind – the thorns he sleeps among
recall the spears of battle



 


BIRDSONG
IN THE CANOPIES

suibhne


the poet is cursed by Ronan

to go naked and become feathered
like a bird





A  v   I F O R M
                                                                           
                                                                               v
    v


after Trevor Joyce's translation of Suibhne




WAN SHARP SWOOP

hen harrier



SHARP TURN


tern





LEAP

eigg


Suibhne's farthest leap was to the Isle of Eigg
where he stayed for six weeks





SEA-HIGH
SEA-LOW

littoral





A BOWL OF SEA

bay

a view of Camas Sgiotaig, The Bay of The Whisk,
Isle of Eigg





MOUTH

cave


The remarkable geology of Eigg features many caves
such as this one on Tràigh a' Bhìgeil, The Strand of The Chirping Sand





THE BLOCKS
OF THE WORLD

dùn


a thought I adapted from the artist Sean Scully, whose lyrical description
of the 'blocks of the world' also features in the road north.

This poem is a homage to the ability of Neolithic culture(s)
to analyse and adapt to the forms of the landscape, as here
at Dùnan Thalasgair, Isle of Eigg





PLOT

pilot


a view of the Isle of Skye from Talm,

the northerly point of Eigg



POINT

pine


The Point of the Pine, Isle of Raasay

viewed from Dùnan an Aisilidh





BROW OF
THE HILL

font

an ongoing series of photographs of the same poem-label,
considering the landscape as a site of thought





THE GREAT WALL

an sgùrr


the pioneering Scottish geologist Hugh Miller

described An Sgùrr as Babylonian, and a natural version
of The Great Wall of China, in The Cruise of the Betsey





CUILLIN


keel


the name of the Cullin of Skye and Rum derives

from the Norse: 'kjollen', keel-shaped; this view
of Rum is from Cleadale






NOUST

nest



from the Norse, a noust is a traditional stance for a boat






THE HARVEST
OF CLEADALE

sunset


Cleadale will be the home of Bothan Shuibhne






KIST
CREST

cairn


Drùim na Croise
this low hill on the Isle of Eigg
features a Neolithic cairn





EYE-GLINT

gorse





WILD RAMBLER


rose





FLAG OF

THE GRUGACH

yellow



Lòn nan Grugach

The Pool of the Water Nymphs





BOW BELLS


red campion






A WEE THRILL
ON THE EDGE

thrift






DOG VIOLET

blue heart




IN THE LEE
LOOKING OUT
FOR THE LIGHT

bluebell





SHOE OF THE CUCKOO


bluebell



after the Gaelic name for these flowers






FROND


friend






THE FERNS
CROOKED FINGER


C'mon over






THE WATERS STAMP


mint



water mint, sorrel and thyme

are some of Suibhne's wild foods





SORROW

sorrel



A SWEET AGE

thyme






IMPRESSION


moss






PRIMROSE

pixil




NIGHTWOOD

ivy





THE GLEN'S LAMP

birch

after Trevor Joyce's Suibhne






FINGERS UNCURL
BY WATERS

rowan





THE RIVER'S WAND

hazel




MOON

seal




FLUKE

spore




OO
W       L
OO

The place-name Oo, as in The Pond of Oo, Rousay,
derives from the Norse for wool



SAINT'S PILLOW

stone


An example of the ascetic tradition of Early Christianity



RUIN

rowan




BIRDALANE IN
THE CANOPIES

Suibhne





SCHILTRON

hawthorn

the spear-prickly battle formations of the old Scottish armies
were known as schiltron





 OLD-FASHIONED WEAVE

bower




ext RA
                S P ecial


another of Sweeney's wild food delights





GOOD RIDDANCE

blossom


the blossom, which we 'bawm', becomes the rags, or 'clouts',
with which we wish good riddance to illness




AMUSED
INTRUDER

yaffle


the green woodpecker, known or his laughter




Thorns
AF, for Trevor Joyce


for Bothan Shuibhne
St Bride’s Day, 2013

expanded following a field-trip
to the Isle of Eigg, June 2013

further expanded during field-trips to
The Peoples Republic of Carbeth
and Jupiter Artland, June 2013


with thanks to Lucy Conway and Hanna Tuulikki



Bothan Shuibhne | Sweeny’s Bothy

Alec Finlay & The Bothy Project

commissioned as part of Creative Scotland’s
‘Year of Natural Scotland, 2013