A Few Poetic Musings

Image: Scott Monument, Edinburgh

National Poetry Month continues unabated, as months will do. My posts, on the other hand, have something of a more stochastic nature. I am late in thanking poet Laura Stophan, of Author Amok, She has been posting a poem a day from Maryland writers, including one of mine called Shower Sprite on April 16, that originally appeared in The Newsletter Inago years ago. Her blog is a great place to find poetry that is accessible to readers of all ages.

I've had the good fortune to have lately visited the land of poet Robert Burns. I'll admit that his poetry has always been difficult for me, since parsing the dialect takes a dedication I've never applied. Visiting the country, however, does provide plenty of motivation. It's amazing to see how the Scots love their writers, particularly Scott, Stephenson, and Burns. You are probably aware that he has his own night of happy reading and revelry on January 25th. And it turns out his poetry is a bit easier to parse after a "wee dram" of whiskey.

Or two.

There is a wonderful, mournful sensibility to be found in the damp castles and misty cliffsides of Scotland. I wasn't expecting to find inspiration for my own horrific and fantastical poems, which seems obviously misguided in hindsight. Certainly on the train ride in, with the green hillsides full of young lambs and searingly bright yellow flowers, I wasn't thinking fantasy. And then you get the chance to walk through the narrow stone streets of Edinburgh, thick with fog, and your imagination starts to roll. (Even though many of those walks were a search either for afternoon tea or Indian food.)

I'm curious to know what locations you have found the most inspiring for your speculative fiction writing. Any theme - horror, fantasy, sci-fi, the weird, whatever. A specific place? City? What venues do you find get your imagination flowing?

Pax,
Bryce

Image: My own picture of the Scott Monument in the heart of Edinburgh.