A Fool's Mind

 

a fool’s mind

I could scatter
  
the clouds over
     
Monadh Ruadh

blow the thistle-
  
down
off Tom
     
Chluaran


shine every last leaf
  
on the birches of
     
Coire nan Craobh-bheithe

pluck you a flake
  
of sharp
flint
     
from
Blar-nan-Saighead

plait you the tale
  
of a crepuscular tiger
     
in Fluich Adagan

look away if you
  
get a rise out
     
of Clach a’ Bhodaich

wrap the stone
  
with new wool
     
by Allt nan Cuigeal

warm
the White Calf
 
in the snows
     
of The
Brown Cow

gather the rose
  
from the fold
     
of
Allt Fileachaidh

carry you safe
  
over
the Water
     
Splash


find where hazel grow
  
by the fleet-water
     
of Allt Challa

but mending a fool’s
  
mind’s something
     
I cannot do

 

Composed after Andrew Schelling’s translation of a poem by the 14th century Kashmiri poet Lal Ded.

The place-names include: Tom Chluaran, the hillock of the thistles, on the lower slopes of Sròn Dubh, the black snout. Coire nan Craobh-bheithe, the corrie of the birches, west of Lochnagar. Blar-nan-Saighead, (now Blar-nan-Saighde on OS maps), the arrows moss, in Glen Feshie. Fluich-adagan (correct spelling Fliuch-adagan), the wetted rush-stooks, also in Glen Feshie; rushes were used for roofing material. Clach a’ Bhodaich, the stone of the old man, or, more earthily, the old-man’s pintle, a ruined farm named for the crag above it, which have may been associated with fairies, spectres, or warlocks, thought to use such sites for leaping from. The crag is also known in Scots as Clash-vottach, the carle’s knowe. Allt nan Cuigeal is the distaff burn, which flows into the Pollagach Burn. Distaffs are wood spindles for winding wool onto, though Peter Drummond notes that Edward Dwelly gives the Gaelic guigeal as a distaff hand-rock, in his Dictionary. The Brown Cow's White Calf is a long-lasting snow wreath in the corrie of Brown Cow Hill. The hill name is unsual because the English is a direct translation of the original Gaelic, Bho Dhonn. Allt Fileachaidh is the pleat burn, or burn of the fold, possibly referring to the bending corrie beneath Creag na Slabhraidh, the little rocky hill of a chain, in upper Glen Muick. The Water Splash is where the road crosses Allt a’ Mhadaidh-allaidh, the wolf burn, in Glen Lui. Allt Challa, the fleet burn, is named for for its fast flowing water, or the Gaelic caltainn, hazel tree, or, relating it to the house, Invercauld, as I will discuss later. Macdonald suggests Invercauld is the confluence of the narrow part of the strath, from Inver Caoil. The Allt Challa rises on Craig Leek, the rockslab crag, and flows to the .

 

bibliography
William Alexander: The Place-Names of Aberdeenshire
Peter Drummond: email to Alec Finlay
Richard Perry: In the High Grampian
Andrew Schelling: Love and The Turning Seasons
Adam Watson: The Place Names of Upper Deeside
Adam Watson: Place-names in much of North-east Scotland
 
photography
Allt Challa name-label: Alec Finlay, 2015
Allt Fileachaidh name-label: Alec Finlay, 2015
Thistle: Hannah Devereux, 2015


Gathering was commissioned by Hauser & Wirth, for the Fife Arms Hotel, Braemar; the project was launched in 2015 and will conclude in 2018.

The artist residency at University of Aberdeen is funded by The Leverhulme Trust; the project was launched in July 2016 and will conclude May 2017.