Orcadian Poet (1971) [recording]

The Orcadian Poet George Mackay Brown Reads His Poems and a Story. Baile Átha Cliath, Eire: Claddagh Records, 1971.

An LP recorded in Stromness, July 1971. The story is “Witch” (excerpts). The poems are: “The Old Woman,” “The Death of Peter Essen,” “The Stranger,” “Hamnavoe,” “Elegy,” “Chapel Between Cornfield and Shore,” “The Poet,” “Old Fisherman with Guitar,” “Hamnavoe Market,” “Country Girl,” “The Sailor, the Old Woman and the Girl,” “Stations of the Cross,” “Taxman,” “Fiddlers at the Wedding,” “Foldings,” “The Laird’s Falcon,” A Child’s Calendar,” “Girl,” “Fisherman’s Bride,” “The Coat,” “Sea Orpheus,” “Tinkers,” “Runes from the Island of Horses,” and “Kirkyard.”

In the sleeve notes, GMB comments on the Scandinavian and Celtic influences on his poetry. “I try often to suggest the swift dangerous rhythms of the sea, and (even more important) the slow dark fruitful rhythm of the earth from seedtime to harvest. . . . The bread that is the result of the crofter’s hard labour on the earth is a recurring symbol: meaning the simple nourishment of the body, and the mysterious sign of the godhead.”

Copies: British Library — National Library of Scotland [LP.516]. — Scottish Poetry Library [st 3.Bro.].