Scottish Poetry Library Podcast

Two poems by the Scottish poet, Cheryl Follon, are discussed on this podcast. Our regular host Samuel Tongue, with help from the monthly meeting of Friends of the SPL group, goes under the bonnet of the short prose poem 'Netball' and the longer poem 'Dinner' - which can both be found on the Scottish Poetry Library website: Netball Dinner Gerry Cambridge described Cheryl Follon's Bloodaxe collection Santiago (which includes 'Netball') as "idiosyncratic, bright as new paint, at times enigmatic, at times clear as water... unexpected and colourful as contemporary life". "Delight is clear in this collection (Santiago)" wrote Alison Craig in The Bottle Imp. "It is surprising, fun and funny, colourful and vibrating with energy. Its accessibility is one of the keys to its power; in just a few lines, Follon gets right to the crux. But the real genius for me is the lightness of touch. There is no sense of working through or finding a way. Idea and poem arrive simultaneously on the page. Immaculate."  

In the latest edition of our Nothing But The Poem podcast resident host Samuel Tongue - after a meetup of the Friends of the SPL Group - takes an exploratory dive into two poems by Indian poet, Tishani Doshi. 'Doshi’s work is like the music of Shostakovich; it gives no quarter but compels you to listen anyway and sometimes there is a beautiful lyricism to chase away the scary bits… There are words and phrases that will stay with you long after you close the book.’ – Frances Spurrier, Wales Arts Review "It’s impossible not to cheer for the poet’s third collection, with her reflections on female bodies and violence feeling exceptionally timely" - Sandeep Parmar, The Guardian The two poems discussed were: Some Words to the Close and Holy Darkness Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods

Lights! Camera! Action! Poetry!   This is the second episode of Nothing But The Film Poem podcast from the Scottish Poetry Library, which is released into the wild 3 times per year. In this episode Sam Tongue from the SPL chats with poetry filmmaker Steve Smart about 3 poetry films that caught their attention.   Poetry films featured in this show   i carry your heart with me by e.e.cummings, film by Kapou Opa Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-PAYrroWQU&t=90s  Also brief notes at https://theinstitute.info/review-awards-international-video-poetry-festival-2025/ (search for "Kapou Opa” on page)   The Big Push by John Glenday, film by Laurie Harris and Xin Li Poem, notes and video at https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/the-big-push/  Video alone at https://vimeo.com/170790586   The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats, film by Don Carey Video at https://vimeo.com/105003356 (best animation: 2014 Royal Television Society awards) Some notes at https://www.movingpoems.com/filmmaker/don-carey/   Other notes for this show   The Spoken Verse YouTube channel, featuring the voice talents of “Tom O’Bedlam” is at https://www.youtube.com/user/SpokenVerse In his channel notes, “Tom” says: "I am not looking for Voice-Over work. It's just a hobby.” (!!)   About the C17th poem “Tom o’Bedlam” see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_o%27_Bedlam   Sir Herbert James Gunn’s painting “The Eve of the Battle of the Somme”: The Fleming Collection furthers an understanding and awareness of Scottish art and creativity through exhibitions, events, publishing and education with an emphasis placed on initiatives outside Scotland. You can see a picture of the painting, and read more about it at https://flemingcollection.com/collection/search-the-collection/the-eve-of-the-battle-of-the-somme-1916-401

The SPL's resident podcast host Sam Tongue takes a deep dive into two poems by one of Britain's most beloved poets, Imtiaz Dharker. Imtiaz Dharker - a Pakistani-born poet who grew up in Glasgow, then moved to Bombay as an adult before returning to Britain - was awarded the Queens' Medal for Poetry in 2014. Themes in Dharker's poetry include questioning what is meant by home, personal freedom, geographical and cultural displacement, communal conflict and gender politics. Carol Ann Duffy said, "Whether Imtiaz Dharker writes of exile, childhood, politics or grief, her clear-eyed attention brings each subject dazzlingly into focus. She makes it look easy, this clarity and economy, but it is her deft phrasing, wit and grace that create this immediacy.” The two poems savoured, discussed, examined in some depth in this podcast, are from her 2018 collection Luck is the Hook and can be read here: Bairn Stitch  

For the first time in 75 years the Commonwealth of Nations appointed a Poet Laureate in Selina Tusitala Marsh, the former Poet Laureate of New Zealand, who lives on the NZ island of Waiheke. Selina, who has Pasifika ancestral roots, was made Poet Laureate in 2025 by the Commonwealth Foundation, for the inaugural two year post. Her work as Laureate aims to use poetry to connect the 2.7 billion Commonwealth citizens throughout 56 nation states. British Council New Zealand & the Pacific and British Council Scotland partnered to support Selina's visit to Scotland for a curated programme of exhibitions, talks and performances produced by the Scottish Poetry Library and the Games Festival's Watershed initiative. While in Scotland Selina recorded a podcast at the Scottish Poetry Library with Scottish Makar, Peter Mackay. She brought her official hand-carved New Zealand Laureate tokotoko stick with her, which accompanies her at all her public events. Selina and Peter's wide-ranging conversation will be catnip for poetry lovers, an absolute joy to listen to, beginning with Selina reading her poem Tusitala, and where her middle name comes from. And yes the tokotoko stick is discussed!

Our regular podcast host Samuel Tongue, after meeting with the Friends of the SPL group, rolls up his sleeves for one of his favourite poets, Selima Hill, examining two poems from her 1997 collection, Violet (Bloodaxe). Please Can I Have a Man Why I Left You What they said about Selima Hill's poetry: "Every page reveals her unique ability to invert the world and shake it, until it reveals its truth" - Kathleen Jamie & Maurice Riordan (PBS Bulletin) "She is truly gifted. She invests mundane things with visionary, delirious brilliance." - Graham Swift (Sunday Times) "Hill is a unique voice in British poetry, handling central subjects with wit, metaphorical beauty, and deep clarity. Her two most characeristic features, the off-the-wall images, and no-holds-barred straight talk, work flawlessly together." " - Ruth Padel & Sean O'Brien (PBS Bulletin)  

Lights! Camera! Action! Poetry!   Nothing But The Film Poem is a new podcast from the Scottish Poetry Library which will be released into the wild 3 times per year. In this first episode Sam Tongue from SPL meets poetry filmmaker Steve Smart. They talk film poems - or poetry films - just what are they? - and discuss some interesting examples.   Poetry films mentioned:   Do not go gentle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOZjrkfWIlM   La Plage by Alastair Cook https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/filmpoem-4-la-plage/   Acknowledgements https://www.arvideriksson.com/acknowledgements   Additional Resources   Poetry Film Workshop web page (wide variety of many poetry film related resources) https://artsci.co.uk/poetryfilmworkshop/   Charles Olsen’s 2023 essay on ‘How to film a poem’ https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/06/13/how-to-film-a-poem/   Helen Dewberry’s book ‘How to make a Poetry Film (a handbook for poets)’ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/helendewbery/how-to-make-a-poetry-film/

Regular podcast host Samuel Tongue, after a meetup with the Friends of the SPL group, rolls up his sleeves and gets thinking about two poems by Nick Makoha from his much acclaimed and award-listed 2025 masterpiece, The New Carthaginians (Penguin). What they said about The New Carthaginians: "A dizzying experience... like Dante entering hell through a rip in the universe, Makoha enters history, accompanied not by Virgil but by a Black Icarus with a microchip for a mouth, and the shade of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat" - Philip Terry (Guardian) "A moving collection of entangled histories. Makoha’s poems break, cut, scratch and sample with heightened language to remake and renew the boundaries of myth. Do not sleep on The New Carthaginians - Raymond Antrobus "In this book, Nick Makoha has found an otherworldly, visionary voice and diction that arrest you from the first page and never let you go." - Jason Allen-Paisant "Profound, sheer originality... a tantalising jigsaw puzzle of a book" - Tristram Fane-Saunders (Telegraph)

Winner of all three Forward Prizes for poetry, Robin Robertson has had seven collections of poetry published and holds the distinction of writing the only poem ever nominated for the Booker Prize: his epic 2018 work The Long Take. "Robertson's emotional terrain is difficulty and guilt; often he writes as if his poems have arisen from a pact with the devil. The poems are clear-lined, sometimes hard-edged, and meticulously worked." - Deryn Rees-Jones "The genius of this Scots poet is for finding the sensually charged moment ... and depicting it in language that is simultaneously spare and ample, and reminiscent of early Heaney or Hughes." - New Yorker Regular podcast host Samuel Tongue, with the Friends of the SPL group, rolls up his sleeves and gets under the bonnet of two vintage Robin Robertson poems: Cat, Failing Swimming In the Woods

Jane Hirshfield has many admirers worldwide. She is as adored by her legion of fans as she is by her fellow poets. The Polish Nobel Prize winning poet, Wisława Szymborska, called her 'a poet very close to my heart'. Another Polish Nobel Laureate, Czesław Miłosz, commented on her 'profound empathy for the suffering of all beings'. Critics too shower praise on her work. Susan Mansfield writing in The Scotsman spoke of her 'poems of wisdom, steeped in a profound understanding of what it is to be human.' In this episode of Nothing But The Poem, our regular podcast host Samuel Tongue reads and then discusses two wonderful Jane Hirshfield poems, and reports back from the monthly online meetup of the Friends of the SPL group who had a lively discussion around these poems. Mathematics from Given Sugar, Given Salt (2001) For What Binds Us from Of Gravity and Angels (1988)