Wee Book of Iona Poems

• Publisher: Wild Goose Publications
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781849524360
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Œcuménisme religieux et interconfessionnel

These haiku-like poems arise out of Kenneth Steven's perception of the Iona landscape. They have the sense of wonder, seeing, and being in the moment that many of us experience when spending time on this jewel-like island in a turquoise sea. Iona has been Kenneth's spiritual home since his childhood. He even learned to walk on one of the island's beaches. He sometimes fears that there may be no more hidden corners to find, but there always are. His poetry collection 'Iona' - first published in 2000 - remains one of his best-known books, although he is also a writer of novels, short stories and children's books.

After the storm

blue sky comes back –

a whole field of sunlight.

A little glen

opens its winter dark

into the riches of orchids.

There is a beach

where globes of Baltic amber can be found:

hold them in the sun like honey.

The marble quarry

is never where you want it to be –

I’m sure they move it in the winter.

Before nightfall

the Ross of Mull

left bloodstone by the sun.

Sometimes

it’s about little more

than a boat on a blue sea.

Straggled and limping

a skein of greylag geese –

voices like bagpipes.

Ten thousand people come here every day

the whole of July and August.

Cross to the west side and there’s silence.

A single canoe

needles and sews

the Sound of Iona.

There are Hebridean songs

made just so the seals

will break the skin of the sea.

A new morning:

another miracle

we fail to see.

...