Evening Departure, Footdee
This evening at the foot of the Dee,
a pop-up picture book scene:
figures fall fast asleep behind
a paper city—Scottish siesta
after today’s unexpected heat.
Tug the tab on the left—
the standby boat leaves, sliding
out of the harbour mouth,
slow motion as three seagulls freeze-
frame in a warm sea breeze.
Can you hear the life ring’s ‘O’
as it glows in the golden light?
Can you read the vernacular
of cottages laying low
behind the flood barrier’s might?
The night’s drawing in—I must go:
reverse the boat back from the sea
into the paper’s folds and cuts,
straighten up your jacket sleeve,
then carefully close these pages shut.
About this poem
This poem was included in Best Scottish Poems 2022. Best Scottish Poems is an online publication, consisting of 20 poems chosen by a different editor each year, with comments by the editor and poets. It provides a personal overview of a year of Scottish poetry. The 2022 editor was Ifor ap Glyn.
Editor’s notes:
As someone who has occasionally gazed at a landscape and carefully ‘touched’ a mountain horizon or a chimney with my finger and wondered what it might be like to lift a roof between finger and thumb or plunge a finger up to the knuckle in a hilltop, this poem spoke to me. An Aberdeen landscape turns into a carefully constructed pop-up picture book. But even as we imagine that we might manipulate the vista in front of us, can we really understand what we see? The poet just asks the question, then withdraws discreetly from the scene, via his own image of the picture book closing. Lovely.
Author’s notes:
This poem is an example of ekphrastic poetry – a poem inspired by a work of art. I wrote it during my time as a writer and consultant for Grampian Hospitals Art Trust’s Shared Collective Heritage Project across 2019 to 2022 where I engaged patients, staff and visitors with the art collection in Aberdeen hospitals through my creative writing practice. The poem is inspired by a screen print by Aberdeen artist Donald Addison, ‘Evening Departure, Fittie’, focused on the old fishing village next to the entrance to Aberdeen Harbour where the River Dee meets the North Sea. Not only does the poem reflect on the unique perspective of Footdee in the screen print, but also on Addison’s style which is quite illustrative. The poem first appeared in issue 25 of Gutter and will also be included in my first poetry book, DWAMS, to be published by Tapsalteerie in March 2024.
