Words & Images….‘Utuqaq’…..Iain Robertson’s Rambles……
by Bernie Bell - 09:20 on 11 January 2023
Words & Images….
I have trouble copying over images from other Blogs, into my Blog – that’s why Bartholomew’s poems often appear without their accompanying pictures - which he’s kindly agreed to.
This piece really needs and deserves the images and words to appear just as Bart. presented them…. a direct link to his Blog is the solution….take a look…..
https://bartbarkerpoet.com/2023/01/09/coalesce/
Bartholomew’s ‘house’ poem reminded me of this by the Sufi mystic, Rumi……
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness
comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door, laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from the beyond.
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'Utuqaq'...
Something important, relevant and pertinent from ‘Emergence’ on-line magazine……
by Iva Radivojević
“Ice has memory … it carries a message.”
“As the Arctic warms, nations are moving into places where the ice has retreated, creating new shipping lanes, building military bases, and expanding drilling. With competition for resources intensifying after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the opening of the Arctic is already being viewed by many as an opportunity. But the ice may have a different story to tell.
In Utuqaq, a film directed by artist and filmmaker Iva Radivojević, we are invited to move beyond a human perspective of the Arctic and step into the world of Utuqaq—ice that lasts year after year. With a memory that extends millions of years into the past, and a form that shapeshifts in intricate patterns over the surface of the vast landscape, Utuqaq bears witness to four researchers drilling ice cores in the Arctic in subzero temperatures, seeking to unlock the memory of the ice and understand this endangered landscape.
Narrated through the Kalaallisut language of West Greenland—a melodic language that holds an understanding of spirits and presences that roam the country—the film offers an extended meditation on the sentience of the land and the deep, boundless silence of the ice.”
Which reminded me of this…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/05/30/a-strange-approach-to-a-true-tale/
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Iain Robertson’s Rambles….
……..just got even better. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001gsjx/iain-robertson-rambles-series-3-1-the-hebridean-way
He’s joined on his walks by dog Mollie – and he made sure to mention that she can go on long walks now as she’s a year old and had built up to it. Folk often get a pup and think it’s OK to head straight off on long walks, but that’s not good for a young dog’s bones. The walks need to be a gradual progression – as Iain knows.
One of the main things I like about this program is that he’s so happy. He’s walking along, drinking in his surroundings, which fill him up so joyous - maybe being a bit flowery there – but that’s what comes to me as how to describe his responses to the world around him. Does me good to see it.
I tickled me when a Crofter in South Uist said that a Combine Harvester in his shed dating from the 1960’s, was the same age as Iain ......Ian was born in 1981! To younger folk older folk often look older than they are - and vice-versa.
Another interesting thing, to me, was the Castle which Iain visited which reminded me of Breckness House in Orkney …. https://canmore.org.uk/site/1569/breckness-house . Just something about the general layout - but it wouldn’t be too surprising, as fashions are fashions, in architecture as well as everything else, then as now.
I’m wondering if Iain would consider coming to Orkney to walk The St. Magnus Way – I think he’d like it.
Here are a few of examples of sections of The Way….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/10/31/forgiveness/
https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/06/22/stepping-out-again/
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/10/29/mooching-about-at-the-bu/
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Here’s one I made earlier… https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/07/20/when-small-is-beautiful/
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