|
Cards and Poems
The Journey: Poetry in Five Landscapes
Amy Simmons . poet/ film critic mail@amysimmons.info
 |
Incoming Gale Here she comes,
Taste the metal in a bruised sky,
her sudden change of mind,
As the last light shrinks into greedy brine.
|
| | |
|
Inside the Wave Inside the wave, time suspended, arms outstretched.
She sinks down, down in a bed of mirrors where
Memories collide on the ocean floor.
|
| | |
|
Breaking Weather Amber light falls by her window, breaking pitch
Through a desert of restive nights.
A chill wind hugs the moor at the tip of daybreak.
|
| | |
|
Rocks and Clouds This place, between the rocks and clouds,
Where time forgets its journey.
This place, warden of peace and confusion.
Drums brush, a heart beats as time registers.
|
| | |
|
Above the Clouds There she goes, above the clouds where
Cobalt sky reigns over. No need to rush the easy breeze
To paint her memories.
Time melts the clock, all is quiet.
|
Paintings commissioned by Scotland's National Nature Reserves and Visit Scotland.
With each image is the artist's response, and its accompanying poem; followed by a description
from Visit Scotland
and Scotland's National Nature Reserve.
| Wonderful and wild. The vast beach offers the drama of sun, wind and passing showers. While the dunes offer their
private spaces to the visitor surrounding them with Marram grasses which respond to the wind rushing through them. |
 |
Beach at Forvie Cold light floods the
Beach at Forvie, where the
Ocean breaks down to the blows of the rain. |
Now an undisturbed National Nature Reserve with one of the largest natural dune systems in the country, Forvie
in medieval times was a bustling human settlement. Though records show substantial oat harvests, the village is believed to have been overcome
by shifting sands over five hundred years ago. Today only the ruins of its 12th Century church remain, though the murmur of its congregation is reflected
in the contented cooing of one of Britain’s largest colonies of Eider ducks.
|
| As I was climbing higher I was amazed by the static conflict of two cloud and mist banks. It was as though they were
frozen in time. Their shapes highlighted by the winter sunshine were quite breathtaking. |
 |
Corrie Fee Silent light descends, where
Only dreams can find
Her behind the clouds today. |
A truly breathtaking natural amphitheatre, Corrie Fee National Nature Reserve is one of Britain’s most
spectacular glacial corries. In summer it plays host to rare arctic-alpine plants, which thrive among its cracks
and crevices, while in the depths of winter its tumbling burn falls silent: the waterfall freezes into a fantastic ice-sculpture
that recalls the great Ice Age from which, it can seem, Scotland has not entirely emerged.
|
| The clouds seemed to be pumping up to greater and greater heights accented by a strongly coloured diagonal
form. While the basalt rocks formed their own pathway across the moor. |
 |
Creag Meagaidh Waiting to visit. Just a stopover
For now, where secret smiles from a yellow day
Carry lovers across the moorland. |
The imposing massif of Creag Meagaidh, together with its five steep-sided ridges and vertiginous cliffs that
fall away into mist-shrouded valleys, create the perfect conditions for the appearance of the ghostly ‘Brocken Spectre’. Explained simply as the
shadow of the hillwalker cast upon cloud below, it is just one of many surprises this National Nature Reserve may produce.
|
| This magical place holds its own unique acoustics, while allowing just a limited visit from the light outside. The
spectre of light that finally dissipates up into the roof of the cave hangs in a ghostly shape. |
 |
Staffa Returning once more to steal a kiss,
She laughs as light splinters in, and
Drums fade to indigo. |
A place of power and stunning beauty, Fingal’s Cave (Uamh-Binn or the ‘cave of melody’ in Gaelic) inspired
Mendelssohn to compose the Hebrides Overture. Sir Walter Scott described it as ‘One of the most extraordinary
sights I have ever beheld… a cathedral… baffling all description’. Follow in the footsteps of William Wordsworth
and Jules Verne, and fill up your senses with a visit to the magical Isle of Staffa.
|
| The light at the end of the day always has such heightened atmospheric qualities. The evening sun had just caught the
distant rock face in this ancient landscape. The low lying mists added beautifully to the mystery |
 |
Rum Still waters pocket memories
On the high ground, where she drapes
The mizzle sky. |
Famed today for its spectacular wildlife of eagles, shearwaters and deer, Rum National Nature Reserve
holds a far more ancient surprise: evidence of one of the earliest known human settlements in Scotland. Discover
some 2000 archaeological sites dating back 10,000 years, set dramatically beneath the towering peaks of this spectacular volcanic island.
|
| I have a passion for the Scots Pine, when it is free to take its own shape without the constraints of forestry planting.
A slow maturing tree of such elegance. I have endeavoured to celebrate its beauty with a steep wintry backdrop.
Winter mists, weak frosted sunlight and the brilliant cobalt blue sky made a very exciting mix. |
 |
Winter Pines Here she rests by winter pines,
Where all is quiet. |
|
|
