{"id":554,"date":"2023-01-06T00:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T00:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/?p=554"},"modified":"2023-01-06T00:00:11","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T00:00:11","slug":"the-shearwater-pencil-poetry-and-brush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/01\/06\/the-shearwater-pencil-poetry-and-brush\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shearwater – Pencil, Poetry and Brush"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For a writer, there is a special thrill when a reader is inspired to be creative after finishing one of their books, especially when it happens twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d already posted a painting of Der Sturmtaucher, the gaff-rigged ketch which has a central role in The Flight of the Shearwater, sent to me by Mark Jardine, one of my beta-readers, and the owner of a working gaff-rigged ketch called Birthe Marie, a converted traditional Danish fishing boat which he uses to sail visitors around the beautiful islands of Mull and Iona on Scotland’s stunning west coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Der Sturmtaucher in the North Sea, Mark Jardine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then, in September this year, William A McMillan was one of the poets reading at an event at the Tidelines Book Festival in Irvine, where I also did a reading from The Sturmtaucher Trilogy. It was a reunion of sorts, but we hadn’t seen each other for a decade. so it was lovely to catch up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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William A McMillan reading at the Tidelines Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We chatted about my books, his poetry and his art, much of it centred around wildlife and the countryside of South Ayrshire. It was a pleasant surprise to discover our respective new ‘careers’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, towards the end of November, he got in touch saying that he’d been inspired by reading the Sturmtaucher Trilogy to write a poem about a Manx Shearwater, the seabird that runs as a theme through the Sturmtaucher Trilogy (Sturmtaucher is German for Shearwater), in Antje K\u00e4stner’s art, in the sailing passages in the North Sea, and in the gaff-rigged ketch named for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’d also done a drawing of a shearwater to accompany the poem. Here is the poem, and the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shearwater<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gliding low over rising tides<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swooping through scooped out troughs of air<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That run beneath the soaring sides<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of mountainous wave crests growing there<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheer walls of water shall be your home<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cutting your way through the ocean\u2019s grain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journeying forth by the green spume foam<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shearwater flies, far from safe nests<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From cradled burrow to watery grave<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wanderer ploughs on, alone<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her life, an endless long-distance race<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stark sentinel in a timeless place<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A streamlined vision of nature\u2019s grace<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The salt-laden miles are her dominion<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wind and the weather her constant companion<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crying her song to the fathomless ocean<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surfing the churn of the water\u2019s swift motion<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never halting, never ceasing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She glides out her life in headlong flight<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wing tips circling the depths of night<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawn by some instinct within her soul<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That points her to home where the breakers roll<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At last, to the cliff by the soft grass furrow<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the quiescent peace of her own safe burrow<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

William A McMillan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Manx Shearwater. William A McMillan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many thanks to William for allowing me to post both the poem and the drawing, and to Mark Jardine for giving kind permission to reproduce his painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can see further examples of William’s artwork, photography and poetry on his Facebook page<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Jardine and Birth Marie can be found at www.boattripsiona.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a writer, there is a special thrill when a reader is inspired to be creative after finishing one of their books, especially when it happens twice. I’d already posted a painting of Der Sturmtaucher, the gaff-rigged ketch which has a central role in The Flight of the Shearwater, sent to me by Mark Jardine, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,17,6,9,25],"tags":[45,46,11,26],"table_tags":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":560,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions\/560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.alanjonesbooks.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}