I'm just back from a very special, though short visit to Edinburgh - celebrating the launch in Scotland of the UlsterScots poetry jukebox at The Scottish Poetry library.
Earlier this year I was commissioned by the Linenhall library to write a poem in this 'Fragments of Scotch poetry' curation. Along with nine other poets (including the current and former Scots makars) we were asked to respond to a specific poem by Robert Burns. The poem I was given was 'To a Louse'.
At first I struggled to be sufficiently inspired. But on re-reading ‘To a Louse’ I
became fascinated with Jenny’s ‘Lunardi’ - a fashionable ‘balloon bonnet’
inspired by Italian balloonist Vincenzo Lunardi. In 1785, the year before ‘To a
Louse’ was first published, Lunardi made the first aerial voyage in Scotland taking
off in his balloon from Edinburgh and landing near Ceres, Fife, a village close
to Cupar, where my late mother was schooled. I don’t recall older generations of
my family mentioning Lunardi, yet my Fife great, great, great great
grandparents must have known about him and probably knew someone who saw that
balloon flight. This connection and the Weaver Poets referenced in ‘Fragments
of Scotch Poetry’ who worked in their cottages led me to think about the bonnet
maker and the unintended consequences the poem ‘To a Louse’ might have had.
Earlier this year I visited the site where Lunardi's first Scottish balloon flight landed.
I'd driven past it countless times while visiting my family in Fife but had never noticed the plaque in a field.
Yesterday I traced the spot in Edinburgh where Lunardi took off in his hot air balloon just over 240 years ago, the garden of George Heriot's school.
I've been blown away by how this project has emphasised just how poetry can make all sorts of connections. I've made new connections meeting some of the poets in person at both launch events in Belfast and Edinburgh. I've strengthened existing connections with other poets I knew, UlsterScots academics and the Linenhall library and UlsterScots agency teams.
Through the project I've connected with my roots. I like to think some of my Fife ancestors might have witnessed the balloon landing near Ceres. If they didn't I'm sure they knew someone who had winessed it. This would have been a phenomenal sight and something everyone in the area would have talked about for a long time - a bit like twentieth century moon landings. Lunardi's balloon journey started in the city where my parents met as students - across the road from Edinburgh university.
And today I really connected with Lunardi when my flight arrangements home didn't go to plan. Due to an IT problem at Edinburgh airport, the air traffic contol system wasn't working for a while. Flights were diverted and cancelled. Planes were in different locations from their crews and for a while it was a bit chaotic. Eventually it all worked out ok. I escaped from the chaos by immersing myself in my book - and I couldn't have made a better choice - about an Edinburgh bookshop in December, with chaos and delayed flights - art imitating life?
It's been very special to be part of this project. The Poetry Jukebox is in the Linenhall Library in Belfast until the end of January and in the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh until the end of February. If you can't make it to either venue before then, you can listen to the recordings here, including my poem 'Ballooning':
