John Mackie describes the emotional pull of the island of Raasay, off Skye, and its volcanic peak of Dun Caan, a modest 1457ft high compared with the Cuillins, but exerting a strong grip on the imagination.
His poem comes from the lively northern compilation entitled Open Mic at Books and Beans (Malfranteaux Concepts, 2016, £5).
EXILE
no more than a granite plug
to geologists who camped here
as students their tip-tapping
hammers sparking
lumps from Clachan’s shore
~
for us kids it was volcano
its head sliced flat by fire, we were
forbidden to try for those
icy melt lochans and eagles
the low cloud of Raasay scudding
raising menace high
~
we carried Dun Caan with us
to cities of exile; narrow skies
struggles with money and breathing
daily wars of value and worth
uprooted, anomic, but always
drawn back to the roar of The Sound
~
this is no Cuillin
but high enough
after the steep slope winding
through bog and scree
past acidic lochs full of cloud
to quicken the breath
and widen the eye.
~
up here on this plug
the fingers of kin
tug at my sleeve
tomorrow I walk with them
on Calum’s road.
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