First day in Lerwick

We eat fish and chips at the harbour,
watch a common seal
somersault below the water.

But he surfaces far out,
past the moored yachts.
And we both remember

how it takes time
to push yourself towards the light,
even from shallow water.


Tour of the mainland

S.A.D. = Shetland Against Deportation. A third of the Shetland population signed a petition
against the deportation of two asylum-seeking families.

The stained-glass kings
of Lerwick Town Hall
the splashes and shrieks
of Clickimin Pool
the Norwegian names
on the War Memorial
the pint of Bellhaven
at the Sumburgh Hotel
the S.A.D. leaflets
on the High Street table
the blood in the mortar
of Scalloway Castle.


Mousa

the broch its layers of stones
we climb to the top
the sun strong behind us

we walk the island path
seals lounge on shingle
sheep munch grass unaware

sadness rolls out with the mist
a new wind blows in
we’ll follow it


Gannets on Noss

From a distance, the gannets are statues,
posing in rows along the cliff-ledges,

the stone of the cliff-face as calm
as the entrance to a temple.

A blue silence lies beyond
the splashing waves, the white cries of gulls.

Forty-five minutes from Lerwick.
We watch from the boat, rich as pilgrims.

Jarlshof

i

In this warren of midden and barn
I place my hand upon careworn stones.

Picts, Norse, Vikings: all lived here,
overlaid, like mist upon wave.

Now the soldier’s graveyard is covered in fern.

From the viewing steps I find
wheelhouse, cropped grass, circles of stones.

ii

Planes fly through mist
towards Sumburgh airport,

over the choppy sea
that half the broch fell into,

so long ago. I sign my name
in the visitor’s book

while you photograph
a Shetland pony.

Traces of dried earth
stick to my lightweight boots.

Later, I scrape them away.