This evening, the quines and loons were treated to an evening with award winning poet, Lesley Benzie, who demonstrated how writing in a regional dialect can bring an extra layer of emotional resonance to poetry. Growing up in the northeast, Lesley was raised with the Doric dialect. Following her move to Glasgow in later life, she was drawn to reconnect with her heritage through poetry. Listening to Lesley’s poetry, we experienced her passion for the mither tongue, which brought her own, authentic voice to her writing.
Lesley spoke of how language reflects our unique cultures, histories, and identities. I could certainly relate when Lesley pointed out how children can be told off for using their regional tongue. I was taken back to my own childhood when I was being told “it’s not aye, its yes!”
Describing the tools of the poet, Lesley brought our attention to sound devices, the use of metaphors, and onomatopoeia. It was interesting to hear about Lesley’s inspiration sources, and succinctly she summed up by saying, “inspiration has to find you working.”
We went on to evoke our five senses in our poetry writing task. We heard excellent read-outs of Dear Coast love letters from the group, and we all left with lines for further crafting. Lesley explained how she uses the five senses to conjure meaning and feeling in her poems because poetry should engage the reader emotionally, not just intellectually.
Its true that Doric is a great example of how language is developed from human travels and interactions over many centauries. We learned that the Doric dialect was moulded from its Anglo-Saxon origins by Gaelic, Picts, and old Scots influences. In fact, the term ‘Doric’ is derived from a Greek word meaning pastoral and was coined by a seemingly smug academic fellow in the 1700s.
Lesley treated us to many of her poems from her current collections. In a fitting tribute, Gavin Tudhope captured the highlights of the evening in his own poem, which he read aloud for the Last Word spot. It really was a wonderful evening of Scots and Doric poetry, and I was struck by a real appreciation why keeping regional languages alive in poetry and writing is so important. Why wouldn’t we want to hear more words such as foggie-bummer? Which, by the way, means bumble bee.
Claire Ghee