Eggplant.place

193d

Today,
on our journey home,
we saw

a buzzard
making a kill
on the roadside verge…

—John Burnside, “Wild”
Published in THE THING THAT MATTERED MOST: Scottish poems for children, @scottishpoetrylibrary / B&W, 2006

Today, 3 March, is World Wildlife Day.

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/wild/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #WorldWildlifeDay

Wild
John Burnside

Today,
on our journey home,
we saw

a buzzard
making a kill
on the roadside verge.

It glided across
our windscreen
and hunkered down

on something –
we couldn’t see
what it was – as the wings

folded around
what Lucas called
‘the prey’.

He wanted to know
if buzzards took children,
or cats;

then,
as we slowed to look,
he chose to admire

the plumage
and the fierce light
of its eye.

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193d

Becoming George by Fiona Sampson review – the remarkable story of a cross-dressing 19th century novelist

A reappraisal of one of literature’s most sensational personalities, the author of more than 70 books

by Anthony Cummins

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/mar/02/becoming-george-by-fiona-sampson-review-the-remarkable-story-of-a-cross-dressing-19th-century-novelist

George Sand at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/851

#books #literature #WomenHistoryMonth

The novelist George Sand is photographed by Nadar, who takes a series of pictures of the writer in March 1864.

Sand has dark, tightly curled hair pinned up, and wears drop earrings. Her expression is calm and self-possessed. She is dressed in a wide-sleeved striped cape or mantle with dark trim over a dark high-necked blouse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sand#/media/File:George_Sand_by_Nadar,_1864.jpg

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193d

Walking in a waking dream
I watched nineteen deer
pour from ridge to glen-floor,
then each in turn leap,
leap the new-raised
peat-dark burn…

—Kathleen Jamie, “The Hinds”
published in THE BONNIEST COMPANIE (Picador, 2015)

Today, 3 March, is World Wildlife Day.

https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/kathleen-jamie/the-bonniest-companie/9781509801718

#Scottish #literature #WorldWildlifeDay #poem #poetry #deer

The Hinds
Kathleen Jamie

Walking in a waking dream
I watched nineteen deer
pour from ridge to glen-floor,
then each in turn leap,
leap the new-raised
peat-dark burn. This
was the distaff side;
hinds at their ease, alive
to lands held on long lease
in their animal minds,
and filing through a breach
in a never-mended dyke,
the herd flowed up over
heather-slopes to scree
where they stopped, and turned to stare,
the foremost with a queenly air
as though to say: Aren’t we
the bonniest companie?
Come to me,
you’ll be happy, but never go home.

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193d

Tha a’ chlosach air ragachadh
mar gun robh e a’ snàmh,
spliadh is ceann air an togail,
sùil is bian
a’ deàrrsadh mar umha…

—Meg Bateman, “Dòbhran Marbh”
Published in THE GOLDEN TREASURY OF SCOTTISH VERSE, @canongate.co.uk 2021

Today, 3 March, is World Wildlife Day

https://canongate.co.uk/books/3267-the-golden-treasury-of-scottish-verse/

#Scottish #literature #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #WorldWildlifeDay #poem #poetry

Dòbhran Marbh
Meg Bateman

Tha a’ chlosach air ragachadh
mar gun robh e a’ snàmh,
spliadh is ceann air an togail,
sùil is bian
a’ deàrrsadh mar umha.

Tionndaidhidh mi air falbh,
air mo nàrachadh ro mheatair de
dhòbhran fom sgrùdadh,
is am bàs air biast cho falbhach
a ghlacadh.

Air ulbhaig, làrach fhuilteach
a chuinnlean; os a cionn,
sgeilp a’ stobadh a-mach
de riasg ’s de fhraoch
far an do thuit e

An comhair a chinn dha na creagan foidhe,
far an laigh e san dubhar mar chloich eile,
a shròn air a pronnadh, gaoisid na fhiaclan,
air a chùlaibh, a shaobhaidh, ùrail, gorm,
mun cuairt air sa bhruach, dàil-chuach is seòbhrach.

Sìnidh mo làmh gu grad thuige
’s mi a’ tuigsinn gun deach a nàdar
ceàrr air an drip an earraich,
gun rachadh an dòbhran mòrail
cuideachd air iomrall.

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Dead Otter
Meg Bateman

Rigor mortis curves the beast
as if swimming,
flat head and webbed foot
raised, eyes gleaming,
pelt of bronze.

I turn away, embarrassed
by a metre of otter
laid out for my scrutiny,
by death’s exposure
of so fleet a creature.

On a boulder, the bloody
stamp of its nostrils;
above, a jutting ledge
of tangled, fibrous root
where it must have fallen

headlong to the rocks where it lies in shade
with staved in snout and stillness of stone,
white fur gripped between its teeth,
with its lair behind, lush with liverwort,
and a flicker of violets and primrose in the bank.

I reach out to it, shocked
that in the urgency of spring
instinct could fail it,
shocked that it too
could lose its footing.

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193d

Flinching in my hands
this soiled and studded but good heart,
which stippling my cupped palms, breathes –

—Jen Hadfield, “Hedgehog, Hamnavoe”
published in NIGH-NO-PLACE (Bloodaxe Books, 2007)

Today, 3 March, is World Wildlife Day.

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/hedgehog-hamnavoe/

#Scottish #literature #WorldWildlifeDay #poem #poetry #hedgehogs #Shetland

Hedgehog, Hamnavoe
Jen Hadfield

Flinching in my hands
this soiled and studded but good heart,
which stippling my cupped palms, breathes –

a kidney flinching on a hot griddle,
or very small Hell’s Angel, peeled from the verge
of a sweet, slurred morning.

Drunk, I coddle it like a crystal ball,
hellbent the realistic mysteries
should amount to more than guesswork

and fleas.

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193d

The grey roots circle thee, who never knew
At any hour within thy travels lone
A human shape but mine…

—Olive Fraser, “The Adder of Quinag”
published in THE WRONG MUSIC, @canongatebooks 1989

Today, 3 March, is World Wildlife Day.

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/adder-quinag/

#Scottish #literature #WorldWildlifeDay #poem #poetry #snake

The Adder of Quinag
Olive Fraser

The grey roots circle thee, who never knew
At any hour within thy travels lone
A human shape but mine. Thou com’st to view,
Wild, unafraid, what stands beside thy stone
And gazes on thee in thy wilderness
Of fifty miles. What thinkst thou of me,
For I am of a race thou could’st not guess
Would murder all thy hapless innocency?

O mountain, take thy small heart back again
And keep him in thy care when I shall go,
Unvisited by all things but the rain,
The hurtless sunbeams, and the winds that blow
For ever in his moors. O let him hold
No intricate memory of that being who stood
Just once by his wild beauty, and did fold
Him with a blessing alien to my blood.

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178d

Why Lacan Loved Harpo Marx

A surprising encounter between high theory and Hollywood farce reshapes how we think about laughter and desire.

By: Angelica Frey

https://daily.jstor.org/why-lacan-loved-harpo-marx/

Humor & Comedy at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/bookshelf/44
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=comedy

#books #literature #art #culture

Lobby card for Monkey Business (1931) with Chico (left) and Harpo (right)

The card shows Chico on the left in his trademark shabby suit and felt hat, and Harpo on the right in his iconic curly red wig, battered top hat, and characteristically mismatched, oversized clothing. The man in the middle is one of the supporting cast members.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpo_Marx#/media/File:Monkey_Business_lobby_card_1931.JPG

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178d

Better than Wuthering Heights? The Brontës’ novels – ranked!

As Emerald Fennell’s film sparks debate, we celebrate the pioneering brilliance of the siblings’ work

by Lucasta Miller

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/mar/16/better-than-wuthering-heights-the-brontes-novels-ranked

The Brontës at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/authors/search/?query=bront%C3%AB

#books #literature

"The Story Of The Bronte Sisters", newspaper article taken from Huddersfield Weekly Examiner, March 26, 1955.

This articles shows:
Charlotte Brontë, painted by George Richmond — the most famous likeness of her; Emily Brontë, noted as also a talented poetess; Anne Brontë, in what the caption identifies as the only known portraits of her, painted by Charlotte.

Some of the cited locations: St. Michael and All Angels church, Haworth, where Charlotte and Emily were buried; Haworth Parsonage, sitting on the edge of the moor overlooking the churchyard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bront%C3%AB_family#/media/File:%22The_Story_Of_The_Bronte_Sisters%22_-_Weekly_Examiner_1955.jpg

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167d

I hear your 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘥, that slow singer,
alone at my desk yet walking with you
through your valleys and hills, that shining
stream bubbling notes of your music
your pure Welsh music…

—Sheila Templeton, “For R.S. Thomas”
Published in A Little Touch of Cliff in the Evening: New Writing Scotland 30 (ASL, 2012)

The Welsh poet R.S. Thomas (1913–2000) was born #OTD, 29 March

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #RSThomas

Sheila Templeton
FOR R. S. THOMAS

I hear your bold blackbird, that slow singer,
alone at my desk yet walking with you
through your valleys and hills, that shining
stream bubbling notes of your music
your pure Welsh music. And I am walking
behind my father, born in your time, but
seeded in his own north land, ploughing,
proud to stride behind his pair o horse;
high cheek-boned, hair rain-flattened
the colour of wet barley, speaking the secret
words to his beasts, turning his park
into a sea of order, yes, with your stiff clods
glinting in the wind, gulls and peesie-weeps
skirling encouragement; above him
only a dark yearning sky.
Another enduring ordinary man,
born to till and toil, to win his wars
to wrestle with his burning under those stars.

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192d

Celebrating Women’s History Month

Celebrate Women’s History Month with JSTOR Daily. We hope you’ll find the stories below a valuable resource for classroom or leisure reading.

By The Editors

https://daily.jstor.org/womens-history-month-editors-picks/

Women literature at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=women+literature

#books #literature #WomenHistoryMonth

Wollstonecraft in 1790–1791, by John Opie

John Opie - Tate Britain

An oil portrait of Wollstonecraft against a near-black background. She has loosely curled ash-blonde hair held back by a white bandeau. Her gaze is direct and composed. She wears a deep teal draped garment with a white fichu at the neckline, and rests one hand on an open book. A quill and inkwell are visible to the upper left.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft#/media/File:MaryWollstonecraft.jpg

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192d

The Worm Queen Turns: Helen Adam (1909–93)
From Dundee Manse to California Coven
10 March, University of Glasgow – free

From Celtic Twilight to the Beat Generation, Adam’s career explodes literary historical periodisation & tangles its sequential logic

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/corey-gibson-the-worm-queen-turns-tickets-1701079658049

#Scottish #literature #CelticTwilight #beats #20thcentury #womenwriters #poetry

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178d

Lost Archimedes Page from Medieval Manuscript Discovered in France

A page long thought lost from one of the most important surviving manuscripts of antiquity has now been identified in a French museum, offering fresh insight into both ancient science and medieval book culture.

https://www.medievalists.net/2026/03/lost-archimedes-page-from-medieval-manuscript-discovered-in-france/

#mathematics #books #literature #science

Archimedes the Thinker by the Italian painter Nicolò Barabino. It shows Archimedes sitting in a chair with his feet stretched out in front. His arms are resting on the high-backed chair. A table with a papyrus on it.

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178d

This week; the sermon is salt
and the taste of it as song. A clean, cold burn

quickens the blood…

—A.M. Havinden, “Sea Chapel”
published in Break in Case of Silence: New Writing Scotland 39 (ASL, 2021)

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/newwriting/nws39/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry

A. M. Havinden
Sea Chapel

This week; the sermon is salt
and the taste of it as song. A clean, cold burn

quickens the blood. Unseen, underfoot,
deep notes of wrack and weed wind

ankles. We raise our voices
in bright blasphemy, in shock and defiance

a hymn of human-scale endurance,
how great and small we are;

how outrageously alone; how far
we’ve come, suddenly, from shore.

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191d

The Captivating Saga Behind the Only Known Portrait of the Brontë Sisters

The only known painting of the three Brontë sisters together was painted by their brother, Branwell, and was long thought lost.

by Katie White

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/bronte-sisters-portrait-history-2748843

Brontë sisters at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=bront%C3%AB+sisters

#books #literature #womenHistoryMonth

The Brontë sisters, painted by Branwell Brontë (in order: Anne, Emily and Charlotte).

An oil portrait of the Brontë sisters grouped closely together against a dark background, with a pale yellowish column or pillar visible behind the central figure. All three have dark auburn curly hair and pale complexions with direct, serious expressions. Anne wears grey-blue; Emily, set slightly back, wears green; Charlotte wears dark brown-black with a grey collar. A book or papers rest on a surface in the foreground.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB#/media/File:The_Bront%C3%AB_Sisters_by_Patrick_Branwell_Bront%C3%AB_restored.jpg

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191d

#OTD in 1839, Charlotte Bronte declines Reverend Henry Nussey’s marriage proposal, claiming that he would find her “romantic and eccentric” and not practical enough to be a clergyman’s wife.

https://lithub.com/lit-hub-daily-march-5-2026/

Books by Charlotte Bronte at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/408

#books #literature #womenshistory

Thompson, John Hunter; Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855); Bronte Parsonage Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/charlotte-bronte-18161855-21013

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191d

What Is the Dominant Emotion in 400 Years of Women’s Diaries?

A new anthology identifies frustration as a recurring theme in journals written between 1599 and 2015

by Sarah Gristwood

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-is-the-dominant-emotion-in-400-years-of-womens-diaries-180983834/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&lctg=93133550

Women literature at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=women+literature

#books #literature #WomenHistoryMonth

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178d

James Macpherson’s Epic Journey
23 April, online – tickets from £3.35

Investigating the life, work, & legacy of James Macpherson. How did he create his epics – & who helped him? What poems did he draw upon for inspiration, from his own Gaelic culture? What impact did Macpherson’s poems have, in Britain & beyond – & on Scottish Gaelic culture too? And how did the controversy over the “Ossian” epic’s authenticity first begin?

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/james-macphersons-epic-journey-domhnall-uilleam-stiubhart-zoom-tickets-1981485519529

#Scottish #literature #Ossian #18thcentury

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191d

“I never read such an impious book,” said the reader, throwing it on the floor.
“You need not hurt me,” said the book; “you will only get less for me second hand, and I did not write myself.”

For World Book Day (UK & Ireland), a fable about a book: Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Reader”

@bookstodon

#Scottish #literature #RobertLouisStevenson #fables #shortstories #flashfiction #microfiction #19thcentury #Victorian

XI—THE READER

“I never read such an impious book,” said the reader, throwing it on the floor.

“You need not hurt me,” said the book; “you will only get less for me second hand, and I did not write myself.”

“That is true,” said the reader. “My quarrel is with your author.”

“Ah, well,” said the book, “you need not buy his rant.”

“That is true,” said the reader. “But I thought him such a cheerful writer.”

“I find him so,” said the book.

“You must be differently made from me,” said the reader.

“Let me tell you a fable,” said the book. “There were two men wrecked upon a desert island; one of them made believe he was at home, the other admitted—”

“O, I know your kind of fable,” said the reader. “They both died.”

“And so they did,” said the book. “no doubt of that. And everybody else.”

“That is true,” said the reader. “Push it a little further for this once. And when they were all dead?”

“They were in God’s hands, the same as before,” said the book.

“Not much to boast of, by your account,” cried the reader.

“Who is impious now?” said the book.

And the reader put him on the fire.

The coward crouches from the rod,
And loathes the iron face of God.

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191d

The Clockwork Orange Project is an experimental literary project taking place on the Glasgow Subway, sponsored by the Royal Society of Literature, & is open to anyone living in or around (or with some meaningful connection to) Glasgow.

The goal of the project is to reimagine urban public spaces as sites of community and creativity, and to produce work that is collaborative, interactive and experimental.

https://kelvingrovewriters.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/the-clockwork-orange-project/

#Scottish #literature #writing #writers #Glasgow

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126d

Happy #Caturday!

T.S. Eliot's 1939 collection of whimsical light poems, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, is entirely dedicated to felines and served as the basis for the musical Cats.

#poetry #poem #kitty #cat #cats #poet #eliot #tseliot #catsOfMastodon #books #reading #literature #bookstodon @bookstodon #books #books #booksky #booktok #bookwyrm #bookstagram #feline #today #cartoon #catsOfFediverse

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142d

Book launch:

the many days / uno dei tanti giorni
A revised and extended bilingual edition of poems by Norman MacCaig

7 June, The Waverley Bar, Edinburgh

This new publication contains an introductory appreciation of MacCaig's poetry by his translator, Marco Fazzini, & a preface by Seamus Heaney.

Marco will be joined by a number of poets reading MacCaig's work in both their original English and new Italian translations.

#Scottish #literature #poetry #NormanMacCaig #translation #Italian

the many days / uno dei tanti giorni
A revised and extended bilingual edition of poems by Norman MacCaig

This new publication contains an introductory appreciation of MacCaig's poetry by his translator, Marco Fazzini, and a preface by Seamus Heaney.
Marco will be joined by a number of poets reading MacCaig's work in both their original English and new Italian translations.
Confirmed poets and readers include: Gerda Stevenson, Alan Spence, Andrew Greig and Christine De Luca.

Venue:
The Waverley Bar (upstairs),
3-6 St Mary's Street,
Edinburgh EH1 ITA
Date d time:
Sunday 7th June, 7pm - 9pm

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86d

There can be no sin committed from love – the radical ethics of Héloïse

by Prashanti Aswani, Adam D’Arpino, Abigail Tulenko

https://aeon.co/videos/there-can-be-no-sin-committed-from-love-the-radical-ethics-of-heloise?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b64a312493-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_05_27_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972

Books by Abelard and Heloïse at PG
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/5441
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/38039

#Books #literature #Philosophy

Transcription: Wherein are written how the scholar Peter Abelard forgot his learning and became a lover, altho the price he paid was great: and how the beautiful Heloise in desiring to acquire knowledge from Abelard learned of all lessons the greatest, from the greatest master of all, to wit, Love: and how she prized it most highly, altho it brought her both shame and sorrow.

The love letters of Abelard and Heloise

by Peter Abelard and Héloïse

Other: Ralph Fletcher Seymour

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/40227/pg40227-images.html

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190d

What Oral Histories Reveal About Women’s Pursuit of Economic Independence

What does independence really mean for women? Through oral histories spanning generations, ‘We Do Declare’ explores how access to money, credit, and opportunity shaped women’s lives and the economic freedom that makes true independence possible.

by Rachel F. Seidman

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-american-womens-history-museum/2026/03/02/we-do-declare-womens-voices-on-independence/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&lctg=93133550

Mary Wollstonecraft at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/84

#books #literature #womenhistoryMonth

Title page of the book Memoirs and Posthumous Works of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Vol. 1

by Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin

A title page from a small 18th-century printed book on cream paper, text centred in varying type sizes: Memoirs and Posthumous Works of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In Two Volumes. Vol. I. Below a ruled line: Dublin: Printed by Thomas Burnside, for J. Rice, 111, Grafton-Street. 1798.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/67847/pg67847-images.html

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190d

There’s no a muir in my ain land but’s fu’ o’ sang the day,
Wi’ the whaup, and the gowden plover, and the lintie upon the brae.
The birk in the glen is springin’, the rowan-tree in the shaw,
And every burn is rinnin’ wild wi’ the meltin’ o’ the snaw…

—Lady John Scott, “The Comin’ o’ the Spring”

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/comin-o-spring/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #Spring

The Comin’ o’ the Spring
Lady John Scott

There’s no a muir in my ain land but’s fu’ o’ sang the day,
Wi’ the whaup, and the gowden plover, and the lintie upon the brae.
The birk in the glen is springin’, the rowan-tree in the shaw,
And every burn is rinnin’ wild wi’ the meltin’ o’ the snaw.

The wee white cluds in the blue lift are hurryin’ light and free,
Their shadows fleein’ on the hills, where I, too, fain wad be;
The wind frae the west is blawin’, and wi’ it seems to bear
The scent o’ the thyme and gowan thro’ a’ the caller air.

The herd doon the hillside’s linkin’. O licht his heart may be
Whose step is on the heather, his glance ower muir and lea!
On the Moss are the wild ducks gatherin’, whar the pules like diamonds lie,
And far up soar the wild geese, wi’ weird, unyirdly cry.

In mony a neuk the primrose lies hid frae stranger een,
An’ the broom on the knowes is wavin’ wi’ its cludin o’ gowd and green;
Ower the first green sprigs o’ heather, the muir-fowl faulds his wing,
And there’s nought but joy in my ain land at the comin’ o’ the Spring!

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190d

Nuair a bha Gàidhlig aig na h-Eoin – When the Birds Spoke Gaelic
28 March, Isle of Lewis. £12

Port na h-Eala & Skylark’s Ascension are two of the many songs, stories & tunes in the Gaelic tradition featuring or inspired by birds. Join Màiri MacMillan, Alana MacInnes, Gillebrìde MacMillan, Padruig Moireasdan & Coll MacDonald for an evening of songs, stories, folklore & music inspired by birdlife

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/mairimacmillan/2103909

#Scottish #literature #song #music #folklore #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #birds

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