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From Shore to Shoormal
From Shore to Shoormal / D’un rivage à l’autre
Poems in English, French, & Shetland dialect /
Poèmes en mirroirs—anglais–français–dialecte shetlandais
Two voices celebrate their Atlantic connection.
Whilst Donna Allard writes on the coastal fringe in New Brunswick, Canada, Nat Hall walks and writes by her shoormal, somewhere on the 60th parallel in her windswept Shetland Islands, Scotland’s most northerly archipelago. “Shore”, as described by J. L. Leprohon in her “Sea Shore Musings” poem, is the Creator’s power—in her own Canadian home, “Mysterious, moaning main,/ in dreams I’ll see thy snow-white foam”. It’s described by Chile’s bard Pablo Neruda in “No me hagan caso / Forget about Me”, as a place where the sea washes, throws up crab claws and skulls of many kinds …
“Shoormal”, as defined by Robert Alan Jamieson in his Shoormal, A Sequence of Movements (Polygon, 1986): “In Shetland, da shoormal is the shallows on a beach; the space between the tides where the moon weighs the density of the ocean …” that area where sand shifts.
Poems in English, French, & Shetland dialect /
Poèmes en mirroirs—anglais–français–dialecte shetlandais
Two voices celebrate their Atlantic connection.
Whilst Donna Allard writes on the coastal fringe in New Brunswick, Canada, Nat Hall walks and writes by her shoormal, somewhere on the 60th parallel in her windswept Shetland Islands, Scotland’s most northerly archipelago. “Shore”, as described by J. L. Leprohon in her “Sea Shore Musings” poem, is the Creator’s power—in her own Canadian home, “Mysterious, moaning main,/ in dreams I’ll see thy snow-white foam”. It’s described by Chile’s bard Pablo Neruda in “No me hagan caso / Forget about Me”, as a place where the sea washes, throws up crab claws and skulls of many kinds …
“Shoormal”, as defined by Robert Alan Jamieson in his Shoormal, A Sequence of Movements (Polygon, 1986): “In Shetland, da shoormal is the shallows on a beach; the space between the tides where the moon weighs the density of the ocean …” that area where sand shifts.
- GenresPoetry
72 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2012
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About the author
Donna Allard
14 books9 followersInternational beat Poet laureate 2019-2020
Founder Canadian Beat Scene 2018
Richibucto NB Canada
Founder Canadian Beat Scene 2018
Richibucto NB Canada
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 8, 2013
This slim volume is a fitting ode to the geography and the cultures of two far shores sharing the same ocean. The poems are accessible and unpretentious, but never simple. They capture the rhythms of local speech, the images, the history, in way that only those who've lived long along these shores can. Written in English, with fine French translations, as well as Shetland Islands dialect,it's an engaging read presented by two poets - Donna Allard and Nat Hall - who know their regions well.
May 23, 2013
May 21, 2013
Having just completed Ms. Allard's section of the book, I am hypnotized with Alantic waves and the Candian way of life. I will go meditate and then come back to bathe in Ms. Hall's selection of poems.
Having just completed Ms. Allard's section of the book, I am hypnotized with Alantic waves and the Candian way of life. I will go meditate and then come back to bathe in Ms. Hall's selection of poems.
March 4, 2020
A delightful collection with rich language in French, English and Scots "Shetland". You can feel the embrace of the sea with it many moods. So enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews