SETH CROOK taught philosophy at various universities before moving to the Hebrides. He does not like cod philosophy in poetry, though he likes cod, poetry and philosophy. His poems have appeared in such places as Gutter, New Writing Scotland, Northwords Now, Poetry Scotland, Southlight, Causeway, Gladrag, The Poets’ Republic, Rialto, Magma and Envoi. One of his poems was selected as one of the Best Scottish Poems of 2014.

SHEILA HAMILTON is an English-Scottish hybrid who was born in Leicester in 1966 and who has lived both sides of the border. After graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in French and German she taught English in Hungary for 2 years. Her poems have been widely published. She has, to date, had two pamphlets out, The Monster in the Rose Garden (Flarestack, 2001) and One Match (Original Plus, 2010) and one full-length collection, Corridors of Babel (Poetry Salzburg, 2007). She is currently based on the Wirral. She is a carer for her teenage son who has disabilities. She is also a poetry reviewer and mentor.

WHAT GREATER MAP
THAN ONE MARKED OUT
BY THINGS THEMSELVES?

Prints on sand, made
by beach party feet;
by the yellow-boot soles

of a fisherman, stood
beside two smaller feet,
far away from the mass

the beach remembers
only as a scuffed blur.
See their toes almost touch.

Angel with a Wonky Wing

Some were sceptical,
   supposing that a real angel
would look more elegant.
  A man strapped in, they said.

Theatrical props, they said,
  risking offence,
calling for proof, chanting,
  fly us, fly us, lift us high.

Taking umbrage,
  the angel offered. And did:
lifting twenty on a rope,
  all rigid-grinning, gripping,

praying in quivering shoes,
  learning what it’s like
to dangle by a rusty peg,
  flag in a Hebridean gale.

                                                          Seth Crook

January 11th, 4 Days After Charlie Hebdo

Teapots, all kinds,
the ceramic and the chrome,
red, carrot-coloured, olive-green,
fancy-floral and brown-functional,
and samovars,

teapots and clouds,
names of clouds,
cumulo-nimbus,
altostratus,

and the role of citrus fruit
in Italian society,
lemon-gardens, limoncello,
how citrus was brought to Italy
by the Arabs.

                                                     Sheila Hamilton

If you wish to read the poems in page view, the following link will take you to a PDF – Seth Crook and Sheila Hamilton Poems

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