BOUNDING UP the bank of the River North Esk at Inveriscandye Farm, Inka was transfixed by one of those insistent scents that no red-blooded dog can ignore I was curious to see what it was and encouraged him on His nose went into the cover and with a tremendous thrashing of wings a large bird erupted from the rickle of branches and dead grass and flew off low over the water.
It was too large for a pheasant and my first, fevered thought was that it was a capercailzie, but no capercailzie ever had a large iridescent patch of feathers on its rear end, and I can't think when one of the biggest of the grouse family was last reported locally It was only when it landed clumsily in the trees on the far side that I realised that it was a peacock Not the run-of-the-mill birdlife you expect in and around the environs of Edzell.
At the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August a girl in a wheelchair gave me a slim volume of poetry with a personal dedication for me, which made it rather special because I'd never been recognised in this way before.
I Know The Gateway, by Jilly Garnett takes the reader through the frustrations of increasing wheelchair dependency and recollections of previous freedom One poem, Performance, is surprisingly personal, and quite matter-of-fact in its description of the intimacies of surgical procedures.
Jilly Garnett doesn't brood on her limitations Crow describes her acceptance of inevitability €œ €¦wisdom in hindsight / won't soak up spilt milk / bolt stable doors / or dry tears at bedtime € In Close Encounters she shares earthy observations of the reduced landscape of the wheelchair traveller's life, noticing €œ €¦belts and not-done-up zips and / (is) crowded by beer bellies louring above €
She ranges over a broad palette of emotions, talking directly to the reader Lambs To The Silence recalls the First World War €¦ €œwe've supplies of fresh tommy / and tin hats to keep off the rain / we're bound for a picnic held for / boys on a field in Flanders €.
Down Lowrie's Den, whose opening line €œI know the gateway to Hades €¦ € provides the name of the collection, uses nature's metaphors which inevitably appealed to me A €œbeech tree's brindled legs € and the cold burn's brown babble – word pictures that are part of my daily life.
Thwarted by the cul-de-sac that life has led her down – €œFind me a straw to clutch €¦ €, but working towards a new creative expression – €œOne day soon, I'll let out the me / whom nobody knows €¦ € I suspect she's well on the way to achieving her vision.
I've thoroughly enjoyed my unexpected gift At 92 pages it's the perfect size to top off a Christmas stocking (price £8-95) e-mail kaysbookshop@btconnect.com or phone 0131 447 1265.