She Burns
12 August 2026
Blog
Sarah MacGillivray, writer and performer behind She Burns, wrote this poem after Tessa Ransford’s ‘Wounded Dancer’ to mark the start of She Burns’ year as Artists in Residence at the Scottish Poetry Library from July 2026. Tessa founded the Library in 1984, and something of her spirit — generous, illuminating, unafraid — runs through these lines: a poem of gratitude, transformation and fierce, burning life.
She Burns returns to the Library for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026, running 5–23 August. Now in its third year after sell-out runs and five-star reviews, the show brings together four fierce women to summon the spirit of Robert Burns through comedy, poetry, music and story.
This started long ago, clearly
In a minutia in a past
Somewhere I will never fully understand-
For this all started somewhere a long time ago in a galaxy far far away -
The universe was writing poetry
through every living thing
lighting every thought every imagination, spins
universe using all its resources to create
Life, every cell a burning flame
Of possibility, she burns
Well,
she burns in the forgotten place, she burns in historic region lost to space, she burns through wounds to heal and lift and watch and kiss as blister gives way to new skin, she burns viscerally, she burns heavenly, she burns here with eternal peace, she burns wistfully, she burns full - of lust and heart beating shame, she burns wildly, crazily, she burns with utter insatiable rage, she burns so gently to alchemise this place, she burns, she will always burn for somethings never end
she burns in the poetry library
Tessa -thank you for setting light to this sacred space, we will dance for you
cast spells with our magic wands,
Let the words do their work, shine on -
As universes do, together let us conjure up these whole new worlds anew
We speak of-
With infinite gratitude to you-
She Burns.
