This is just a sample of pages from Pushing Out the Boat Issue 13 To read the magazine in full, visit our website at https://www.pushingouttheboat.co.uk/issue-13
PUSHING OUT THE BOAT - Issue 13 FOREWORD by Esther Woolfson Literary and arts magazines are special. They’re important, and necessary. Nothing else provides the opportunity for a writer or artist to be published as an individual but in collective form, part of a singular, ambitious endeavour. Nowhere else does the new artist appear in democratic proximity to the well-known veteran. In no other publication is each offered the same small, concentrated space in which to make a mark. Both mirror and reflection, the pages of the literary magazine are where the artist and writer can be bold or restrained, loud or quietly measured, where the reader can follow a career from first published work to literary or artistic stardom. They are, at the same time, destination and launch pad. A love of the literary magazine was one I acquired young. I used to watch my parents avidly reading their separate magazines, my mother’s austere in plain cover with the sailing ship motif, my father’s arriving by post from America, bearing the now-lost glamour of distance. Now, in spite of being able to read them online, I’m still among those who keep their journals, pile them in cupboards, unable to break the habit of delighting in the written word or image, on paper. For the reader, or perhaps more correctly the devotée, waiting is part of the experience. We enjoy the anticipation. Happily, we wait for a week, a month, a year for the next edition of our chosen magazine because we know it may be the one to hold that particular poem, that story or image, that dazzling short piece of writing which will stay alight in our memory for decades. Literary magazines gain stature through longevity. Pushing Out the Boat was established in 2000 and now, this 13th edition demonstrates brilliantly how and why. It has expanded its horizons while maintaining the tone and savour of place which has always made it unique. Through the words and images of this edition, we experience established and distinguished voices side by side with new, bold, exciting ones. Through different forms and words, they are all contributing superbly to this most important of human endeavours - portraying and reflecting with profound thought and beauty, the lives we lead.
Esther Woolfson’s account of sharing a home with birds, the acclaimed Corvus - A Life With Birds, was published in 2008, as was her novel Piano Angel. She has won prizes for both fiction and non-fiction and was shortlisted in 2014 for the Ondaatje Prize. An anthology Cold Vision, inspired by her residency and those of Kathleen Jamie and Paul Farley, in Kielder as part of the 2012 Hexham Book Festival, was published in 2014. A former Artist in Residence at the Aberdeen University Centre for Environmental Sustainability, Esther was recently appointed Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at Aberdeen University.
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CONTENTS
Foreword
by Esther Woolfson story by Thomas Clark image by Anna Geerdes
Page 4 Eye of the Needle Page 6 The Edge of Reason Page 7 Late again for the poetry breakfast & On the track to Elphin poems by John Bolland Page 8 The Seal Husband story by Sandra Ireland Page 10 Sentinel Star Readying to Set Sail image by Kate Steenhauer Page 11 The Flicht o Isobel Scudder poem by Sheena Blackhall The Catch poem by Lindsay Macgregor Page 12 Día de los Muertos story by Shane Strachan Page 15 Dancing on the water I & II image by Tim Winter Page 16 Naming the River & Page 17 Revenge of a Jilted Jukebox poems by Neil Young Page 18 Crashing in the Haar image by Graeme MacDonald Page 19 Recipe For Success story by Stephen Pacitti Page 27 Gathering image by Lisa Gribbon Page 28 The Sieges of Valletta concrete poem by Neil Russell Page 29 Cartographers Approach image by Sarah Jamieson Page 30 Death of a Hawk & The German Girl, 1849 poems by Helena Sanderson Page 31 Giants poem by Jean Atkin page 32 The Washington Café image by Jane Pettigrew She, Jonathan story by Sarah Isaac page 37 Fendi Offers image by Sarah Macmillan-Taylor page 38 Master Of Disguises poem by Jonathan Greenhause page 39 The Scar On Your Hand poem by Louise Wilford Page 40 The Excuse Hound story by Ken Morlich image by Samatha Harwell age 17 page 45 Weave me a rope Page 46 The Window Seat story by Naziah Nawroj age 15 image by Roxeighlea Davidson age 17 Page 48 Lightbox Page 49 Guardians of the Ocean story by Iseabail Duncan age 13 Page 51 Miniatures, Gigantics and Other Objects image by Laura Mullen Page 52 The Seventh Tee story by Conor Watson Page 55 Yellow Grid image by David Pettigrew Page 56 Ship to shore & poems by Judith Taylor Page 57 Meeting the Chief Page 58 In My Mother’s Old Purse poem by Loretta Walker On a Family Photograph poem by Stewart Sanderson Page 59 The Feathered Friend story by Keava McMillan Page 62 Blue Beret image by Helen Forrest Page 63 Girl by the Green River poem by Hilary Stobbs The artist’s portrait of his dead son poem by Sandra Ireland
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CONTENTS Page 64 In Your Gila River Dream poem by Jeffrey Alfier Page 65 San Pedro River Night at Fairbank Willow Wash poem by Jeffrey Alfier Page 66 Bach in the Broch story by Donnie Ross Page 69 Man with a Bicycle, Inverness image by Martyna Benedyka Page 70 No Entrance image by Anna Geerdes Page 71 Woman at the Window & Milais’ Martyr of the Solway poems by Stephen Devereux Page 72 What I did on my summer vacation poem by Robert Haycock Page 73 After high tide & Unaddressed Apology, in Asturias poems by Beth McDonough Page 74 Beach Hut Tsunami image by Donnie Ross Page 75 Sixteen Years an Asylum Nurse story by Douglas Bruton Page 78 Fendi Offers image by Sarah Macmillan-Taylor Page 79 Burn this Box image by Laura Mullen Page 80 Fittie Weathervane image by Jennifer Watson Page 81 Bees’ Byke & The Flicks poems by Alexander Lang Page 82 Going poem by Jon Price Distance poem by Morgan Downie page 83 Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff poem by Ashley-Elizabeth Best Night walking poem by Maggie Wallace Page 84 Fisherman image by Suleman Imtiaz Page 85 Butcher poem by Olivia McMahon Bait poem by Jo Bell poem by Paul McKeown Page 86 Stealing Fire Page 87 This way & that way image by Lisa Gribbon Page 88 The Lost Shoe story by Eleanor Fordyce Page 90 Sidhe Law poem by Tim Kearns Page 91 Grass image by Lucy Telford Page 92 Contributor Information Page 94 Magazine Information including our Production Team Page 95 POTB Outlets, including NEOS Front & Back Covers based on a photograph
Platform Journey by David Pettigrew
Inside Back A Bowl of Rain Monoprint Woodcut Collage by Michael Waight
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The Edge of Reason
Anna Geerdes Oil on board 720 x 910 mm
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Late again for the poetry breakfast Poets sleep late, drink whisky, rant and roar, they take their loves in daylight on the floor, and never eat their apples to the core, throw open windows, always slam the door and, here’s the thing prosaic folk deplore, when faced with this or that they ask for more.
On the track to Elphin Fool in a coracle dangling a pin, I have spun above the whale-road through the bonxies range mistaking ravens for constellations, kelp rafts for astrolabes, lichen on my gunnels for an earldom. Lost at sea, at least I knew the way. This path of grits leads inward to Ledmore and the autopsies of the Cnocan Crag, sworn testaments to overthrust and fault which tell us nothing. No-one follows me. The weather. Looking back, the miles only ache and forward only hurt. Above the cloud, my drunken stars turn still. John Bolland
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This is just a sample of pages from Pushing Out the Boat Issue 13 Want to read more? You can read the magazine in full on our website at https://www.pushingouttheboat.co.uk/issue-13
This way & that way
Lisa Gribbon Collagraph & Chine colle 1150 x 1500 mm
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The Lost Shoe
S
he realised only in retrospect the significance of what had been a seemingly ordinary moment, in a year that came and went like any other: the world celebrated the turn of the millennium; Vladimir Putin was elected President of Russia and Tiger Woods won the US Open by 15 shots; the dot-com bubble burst and, in Paris, Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde Supersonic passenger jet, crashed just after take-off, killing 113 people. On the beach at Balmedie, Rosie Dunlop, aged eight, lost her shoe. It occurred to her that ‘lost’ wasn’t really the right word. She knew fine where it was but there was no way she was telling anyone. It wasn’t a problem: the shoes were not of her choice – as if anything ever was – and the situation had brought the perverse pleasure of sinking her one bare foot into the yielding sand, whilst the other, shod in the offending brown sandal, succumbed to lapping water. She looked up to see if anyone had noticed. Sitting on a chair half way up the beach, her father was in deepest crossword country, oblivious to sun, sea and sand. Four Down: bald and boring – six letters, begins with ‘f’. Her mother was stretched out on a lounger. “Lounge-er,” said Rosie out loud. It was the sort of word that needed to be pronounced. “Lounge liz-ard” sounded even better and quite appropriate, mother, shiny with oil, immobile and frizzling in the sun. Dear Nurse, are you the one who swapped me in the hospital? I forgive you, but could you come and collect me and deliver me to my real parents, please? Rosie. Groups of people were dotted and clumped over the beach, burrowing, digging and throwing sand as if preparing to nest. Some were creating defence systems of walls in garish stripes, in protection of their territory. Others seemed to be convinced a trench filled with water, carted in buckets from the sea, would be adequate to repel any trespasser. Rosie plonked herself down in the sand at the water’s edge, popped the last three squashed wine gums into her mouth and took in the scene, marvelling at the absurdity of the human race.
Dear Mr Attenborough, I thought you might like to know that I have discovered a curious species for you to come and study. I have seen few signs of intelligence, but the creatures are unusual in that it is the young who are the workers whilst the adults supervise or ignore their off-spring. I have observed also that in strong sunlight both young and old take off their outer layers and then cover their bodies in a sticky secretion. When the sun disappears, the herd take off en masse to nest elsewhere. Bring a camera, Rosie.
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The Lost Shoe It was one of those defining moments when the ordinary becomes a wondrous revelation: Rosie knew what she wanted to be, as if it had been in front of her all along, with the sun casting shadows and hiding the obvious from her. When Miss Smith had asked the class to write down their wished for occupation, Rosie had written ‘psychiatrist’ merely because she wanted to show-off that she knew how to spell the word. Amy McKay had said psychiatrists must be bonkers themselves to want to be one. But what did she know – she who wanted to serve at the counter of Burger King. “Rosie, come and get something to eat.” The lizard no longer lounged. Rosie pressed her hands into the now wet sand and slowly stood up. She contemplated taking off the one brown sandal, but instead limped theatrically across the beach, dragging her naked foot as if in pain. It was enough to prompt the inevitable question: “Where’s your other shoe?” asked Four Down, this considered a serious enough matter to make him abandon the newspaper. Dear Agony Aunt, my parents keep asking me awkward questions. Should I just tell them to limp off? Frustrated of Balmedie. “It floated away in the water,” she said. “What! But they were brand new, for God’s sake.” Just then, a flustered looking woman appeared from behind the nearest dune, clutching a brown sandal. “I think this is your lassie’s. She swapped it with my Katie – for a packet of wine gums.” Everyone looked at Rosie, so she smiled. “They were good,” she said, watching the reaction of three adults searching for words to cope with the situation. Later, she would make notes. It’s what a psychiatrist would do, she thought. Eleanor Fordyce
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Sidhe Law The plug is pulled. And darkness, like a creeping sootfall sinks. The sky’s bathwater empties. Centripetal splatters wheel like birds that bicker plastic tommy-gun reports, circle the altitudes of trees and ink their vain capillaries, crotchety with dampness. Runic crows’ traces strut frets in ploughed tides, paralleled with furrowed breaks and fairy corners; tenacities of heather weigh snowshoe-snug and contour-weary feet, measuring gradients from summits - blasted with scotched myths resurrected in whispered smithereens to wite the warp and weft of forked tongues frenching out hellfires: a Doric incantation and a scissorload of grief. As umbral leaching bloods a plot line, serious as chalk and etched on vapours, as breath into the wind. Tim Kearns
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Grass
Lucy Telford Photographic lumen print 2400 x 1678 px
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Contributor Information Jeffrey Alfier’s most recent work is The Color of Forgiveness, a poetry collaboration with Tobi Alfier (Mojave River Review Press, 2014). He is co-editor of San Pedro River Review. Jean Atkin is a professional poet and writer, based in Shropshire. Her first collection Not Lost Since Last Time is published by Oversteps Books. She is Poet in Residence for Wenlock Poetry Festival 2015. www.jeanatkin.com Jo Bell is an award-winning poet whose second collection Kith is available from Nine Arches Press. She lives on a boat in the English Midlands. Ashley-Elizabeth Best is from Kingston, Canada. Her work can be seen in Fjords, The Columbia Review, Berfrois, The Battersea Review, Ambit Magazine, and Branch Magazine among other publications. Martyna Anna Benedyka works with painting & film photography. Martyna graduated with a first degree from Gray’s School of Art in 2014. Currently, she exhibits in London & across Scotland. Sheena Blackhall is a poet, novelist, writer, illustrator, traditional story teller and singer. Created Makar for NE Scotland in 2009, Sheena promotes Scots culture and language in the North East. John Bolland is a novelist and poet. His work has appeared in POTB, the London Magazine and various anthologies. He recently retired from the oil industry to live full-time. Douglas Bruton, graduate of Aberdeen University, has won competitions with his writing and been published in Brittle Star Magazine, The Vestal Review, Fiction Attic Press and The Irish Literary Review [+ POTB! - Ed] Thomas Clark is a Glaswegian writer based in the Scottish Borders. His first poetry collection will be published by Gatehouse Press later this year. He blogs about writing at www.thomasjclark.co.uk Roxeighlea Davidson is an HND Visual Communication student at North East Scotland College who hopes to further her education in art school. Stephen Devereux is a poet, playwright, essayist and short story writer. His work appears in agazines & websites in the UK, Eire, Europe, USA & Australia. He lives in Liverpool. Morgan Downie is a poet, short story writer and visual artist. He is a keen cyclist and not shy of a canoe. These are always competing activites for his time. Iseabail Duncan attends Banchory Academy, and has won several writing prizes. She also has a fabulous mother who insisted she take pride of place in this biography. Thanks Mum. Eleanor Fordyce’s poetry & short fiction, in English and Doric, has featured in a variety of publications, but she is aye fair trickit to be included in Pushing Out The Boat. Helen Forrest paints from the heart. Vibrant colour, simple form and a creative use of texture are woven together to give her paintings their unique quirky quality. www.helenforrestgallery.co.uk
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Anna Geerdes was born in the Netherlands and moved to Orkney in 1991 where she lived for fifteen years. After graduating from Grays School of Art she lives and works in Aberdeen. Jonathan Greenhause’s poetry has recently appeared in the UK in Acumen, Brittle Star, The Dark Horse, Neon, The Next Review and Popshot, among others. See website www.jonathangreenhause.com. Lisa Gribbon is an artist who specialise in printmaking. Her most recent prints have been inspired by the different book forms that can be found around the world. Samantha Harwell is a 17-year-old studying Visual Communications at college in the hope of pursuing a career in design. Robert Haycock lives in Antioch, California. Suleman Imtiaz, a student at NESCOL in Aberdeen, born in Pakistan, educated in Italy. He moved from Italy to Scotland to finish his high school studies, and so achieve his goal in life. Sandra L Ireland, PhD student at Dundee University, lives in Carnoustie. Joint winner of the 2014 Gavin Wallace Memorial Prize for Creative Writing, has just completed a novel about the dark side of taxidermy. Sarah Isaac is an art teacher. Publications include Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, Dundee Writes, Room to Write, William Soutar Prize & Nethergate Writers’ Watermarks. Our relationship with animals is a recurring theme. Sarah Jamieson is a visual artist whose work focuses on the geography of the land, through organic patterns, geometric shapes & the language that maps deploy. Tim Kearns is Head of English at Kilgraston School in Perth. In addition to his own work, he edited Lasting Treasures: Selected Poems 1947-49 by Bradford poet Sherwin Stephenson. Alexander Lang wis ten an lang in the shanks fan Stella the hoose-keeper frae Foggy Loan caad him Langsandy - an fufty afore he kent it meant the Grey Heron. Graeme Macdonald is a student at North East Scotland College; his interests include Graphic Design, Illustration & Typography. Graeme is currently studying Visual Communication. Beth McDonough finds poems foraging, swimming outdoors and whilst Anglo-Saxon riddling. She often writes about a maternal experience of disability, and is currently Writer in Residence at Dundee Contemporary Arts. Paul McKeown hails from Country Antrim. A qualified chemist, he now works as a parish minister in Belhelvie. For him, attentiveness is what faith, poetry and science have in common. Lindsay Macgregor lives in Cupar and co-hosts ‘Platform’, a poetry night at Ladybank. Her grand-parents came from Aberdeenshire. She is the very grateful recipient of a 2015 New Writer’s Award.
Contributor Information Olivia McMahon is a poet and novelist living in Aberdeen. Her most recent collection What are you looking at me for? is inspired by artworks in Aberdeen Art Gallery. Keava McMillan grew up in Edinburgh. She works in the local dance studio and writes short stories to avoid studying for her doctoral thesis on Weimar cabaret. Sarah Macmillan-Taylor lives and works in Cumbria. She graduated with a BA - Arts from Marylhurst University, Portland Oregon. You may buy her painting and prints at Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com/Artists/taylor Laura Mullen’s particular interests are objects chosen to be passed down from generation to generation, how they are selected and how they create a link between the past and the present.
Kate Steenhauer uses oil paint and intaglio printmaking techniques to create images of Scottish landscape and industries. Her work has a foundation of fine art skills but also embraces contemporary context. Hilary Stobbs, English born but with a northern soul, recently graduated with a Masters in Creative Writing. Her delight in poetry is only equalled by her delight in singing. Shane Strachan holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Aberdeen. His work has appeared in New Writing Scotland, Gutter, Northwords Now, Freight’s anthology Out There and others. Judith Taylor lives & works in Aberdeen and is the author of two pamphlet collections, Earthlight (Koo Press, 2006) and Local Colour (Calder Wood Press, 2010).
Ken Morlich is an Edinburgh based writer who likes muesli & old-fashioned bicycles. Recently had work in webzines Freefall and Bleak Bleak; and was short-listed in the Berlin Reader short story competition.
Lucy Telford is a photographer living in Aberdeenshire. Working primarily with antique and alternative processes, her work has been exhibited throughout the UK & in the USA. Lucy Telford Photography
Naziah Nawroj, an Aberdeen Grammar School pupil, lives in her head, but occasionally peeks outside to impart her ‘gems of knowledge’. Usually, her friends try to avoid this setting.
Michael Waight, originally from Dorset, has been living & working in Aberdeen since 1985. He is currently Head of Printmaking at Peacock Visual Arts. He makes wood constructions as well as etchings & relief prints.
Stephen Pacitti, an Aberdonian, lectured for many years in Taiwan. He continues to write in his native Doric short stories which have appeared in POTB, Lallans and the Aberdeen University Review.
Loretta Diane Walker teaches music in Odessa, Texas. She received a BME from Texas Tech University and earned a MA from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.
David Pettigrew born Meikle Wartle, Aberdeenshire. Post Graduate of Gray’s. Has been drawing and painting seriously for over sixty years! Works in oil, watercolour and digital media. Lives at Old Portlethen. www.masterpieceartstudio.com Jane Pettigrew, born Aberdeen, post-graduate of Gray’s School of Art, has always been fascinated by the built environment. Her work is influenced by Italy and the North East of Scotland. www.masterpieceartstudio.com Jon Price is a writer and researcher from Huddersfield who currently spends much of his time in Aberdeen, where he is completing a PhD on cultural leadership at RGU.
Maggie Wallis lives in the Highlands and works by day as a speech and language therapist. She enjoys the work of Jane Hirshfield and Galway Kinell. Conor Watson grew up in Aberdeen and studied in Glasgow. He worked for councils before emigrating to Germany in 2006, where he is now a soil scientist at a university. Jennifer Watson, originally from Edinburgh, lives in Aberdeen. Once a fish biologist and translator, she is now an artist, writer and photographer. And plays the mandolin. See www.jenniferjwatson.com
Donnie Ross as both painter and writer is interested in using reflections and transparency to illuminate depth.
Louise Wilford publishes poems and short stories, winning competitions including the National Poetry longlist and the Bridport Prize. Now home in South Yorkshire, she teaches English, and studies an Open University Psychology degree.
Neil Russell lives in rural Aberdeenshire. The visual aspects of manipulated text have been his primary interest in recent works, many of which have been published or exhibited locally.
Tim Winters was born in London and moved to Australia aged 16. He has developed a strong visual affinity with the Australian landscape which has resulted in many paintings and prints.
Helena Sanderson draws inspiration mainly from history and the natural world. She is a poet, scriptwriter and student. She grew up on a Scottish island and currently resides in Cumbria.
Neil Young hails from Belfast and now lives in Stonehaven. He writes poems ranging from satires to sonnets, and gives readings anywhere from bookshops to bus-stops.
Stewart Sanderson is a third-year PhD student in Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow. Last year he was shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Award
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PUSHING OUT THE BOAT The Production Team for Issue 13: Editor Sheila Reid [t] Treasurer Mandy Briggs [t] Coordinator/Acting Sec’y Freda Hasler [t] Sales Martin Walsh [t] Sales/Finance Manager & the Sales Team Consulting Editor Graeme Roberts Communications Aenea Reid [t] - Webmaster, Georgia Booker [t] Art Selection Panel Stuart Johnston, David McCracken, Sally Moir [Convened by Freda Hasler] Poetry Selection Panel Georgia Brooker [Convenor], EE Chandler, Shane Strachan Prose Selection Panel Vance Adair, Gillian Phillip, Ewan Scott, [Convened by Bernard Briggs [t]] Scots/Doric Editor Derrick McClure Copy Editors Freda Hasler [Convenor], Moira Brown, Marion Mackay, Sheila Reid, Anthea Robertson Covers Dolleen McLennan and the Cover Team Design & Layout Sue Simpson, Freda Hasler, Dolleen McLennan Angus Representative Eleanor Fordyce [T
= Trustee of the POTB SCIO]
Pushing Out the Boat is entirely managed and produced by this dedicated team of volunteers, and was awarded Scottish Charitable status in 2014 [SCO44919]. This is the first edition financed exclusively by magazine sales and fundraising; we greatly value the inkind and reciprocal support of our Partner organisations:
Email: info@pushingouttheboat.co.uk Post: Pushing Out the Boat, c/o 23 Ferryhill Place, Aberdeen, AB11 7SE Printer: J Thomson Colour Printers - Glasgow Copyright: All content copyright © of respective authors and artists. Contents of the magazine may not be used or reproduced without crediting POTB and the author or artist. Any commercial re-use or reproduction of a contribution requires prior permission from the editor’s representative and the particular contributor.
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PUSHING OUT THE BOAT - Outlets Copies of the magazine (price £7 plus post/packing) can be purchased online at www.pushingouttheboat.co.uk; via our email/postal address; and from our regular outlets, whose continued support we gratefully acknowledge. This list, which is constantly updated on our website, currently includes:
Aberdeen Central Library
Charles Michie, 391 Union St, Aberdeen
Alford Heritage Centre, Alford
Milton of Crathes Gallery, Crathes
Better Read Books, Ellon
Newtondee Village Stores, Bieldside
Books and Beans, Belmont St, Aberdeen
Orb’s Bookshop, Huntly
Cup, 9 Little Belmont St, Aberdeen
Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen
Deeside Books, Ballater
Tolquhon Gallery, Aberdeenshire
Gallery at Fifty Five, Stonehaven
Touched by Scotland, Oyne
Grassic Gibbon Centre, Arbuthnott
Waterstones, Union Bridge, Aberdeen
Hammerton Stores, Aberdeen
Copies are available to read at all Aberdeen & Aberdeenshire Libraries; the libraries of Aberdeen’s Universities and Colleges; & at Powell’s City of Books, Portland, OR, USA.
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This is just a sample of pages from Pushing Out the Boat Issue 13 Want to read more? You can read the magazine in full on our website at https://www.pushingouttheboat.co.uk/issue-13
‘A Bowl of Rain’ Monoprint Woodcut Collage by Michael Waight