click on me to hear
The Umbrellas of Edinburgh is a book of new poems, covering a wide range of city scapes. The Scottish Poetry Library has taken some of these, read by their creators, and made them into a podcast which lasts about 43 minutes.
Each brief poem is written specifically about a different place, ranging from well known central landmarks to deprived outer city estates. The voices in your ears will take you to a variety of places and times – including the resident who remembers catching his first glimpse of Rolls Royces in his street, during Festival time.
A delight to hear, and it will give a flavour (if ears can have tastebuds) of various parts of the city. A great addendum or introduction to a visit.
Listening is less taxing than reading – we can take in information, hands free. Because of its simplicity and directness, hospital radio is available to even those feeling unwell, in pain, away from their home environment. The sound takes us to another environment – “Pictures are best on radio” – it’s one person’s voice at your ear, telling experiences of long ago, far away, or right now (the news) bringing you into their world. And of course this may be thousands of light years away on a Vogon spaceship where the last living human (or so it seems), Arthur Dent is listening to the excruciating second worst poetry in the universe, while a galactic Encyclopaedia lets us know what is going on. This is the type of set up we find on the classic radio comedy sci-fi show “Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” – terrific and hilarious as a radio show – slightly leaden and unconvincing on television and film, despite advances in visual special effects.
