David Wheatley
@nemoloris.bsky.social
Cairngorm-regarder. Bairn-herder.
Beckett’s German diaries show him to be ‘an extraordinarily sensitive seismographer of the Nazification of everyday life’, writes Durs Grünbein in this week’s TLS. www.the-tls.com/lives/diarie...
Cultural catastrophe
Beckett’s ‘German Journey’ in the Nazi period
www.the-tls.com
September 19, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Beckett’s German diaries show him to be ‘an extraordinarily sensitive seismographer of the Nazification of everyday life’, writes Durs Grünbein in this week’s TLS. www.the-tls.com/lives/diarie...
In April 1969 Theodor Adorno enduring the ignominy of a student 'Busenattentat'.
September 18, 2026 at 12:49 PM
In April 1969 Theodor Adorno enduring the ignominy of a student 'Busenattentat'.
The Earl of Glamis here in the ‘glittering north’ had a daughter and ‘cawdor’ (Macbeth joke) Lilian. Whose poetry has now been edited by @jntod.bsky.social.
September 18, 2026 at 11:47 AM
The Earl of Glamis here in the ‘glittering north’ had a daughter and ‘cawdor’ (Macbeth joke) Lilian. Whose poetry has now been edited by @jntod.bsky.social.
Reposted by David Wheatley
My friend James Womack has a new, hot pink, book out! Or very nearly out. His house, as he told me this morning, is full of Ash.
September 18, 2026 at 9:34 AM
My friend James Womack has a new, hot pink, book out! Or very nearly out. His house, as he told me this morning, is full of Ash.
Admirable. From Colin Bramwell’s Fower Pessoas.
September 18, 2026 at 9:37 AM
Admirable. From Colin Bramwell’s Fower Pessoas.
The twelfth-century St Clare of Assisi is the patron saint of television because:
September 16, 2026 at 3:58 PM
The twelfth-century St Clare of Assisi is the patron saint of television because:
Happy birthday to Aidan Mathews, who turns seventy this month.
brandnewcarnation.substack.com/p/aidan-math...
brandnewcarnation.substack.com/p/aidan-math...
Aidan Mathews and the Poetry of Unselfconscious Grace
Though I’m not sure as to the exact date, I know that Aidan Mathews’ seventieth birthday occurs sometime this month.
brandnewcarnation.substack.com
September 16, 2026 at 11:59 AM
Happy birthday to Aidan Mathews, who turns seventy this month.
brandnewcarnation.substack.com/p/aidan-math...
brandnewcarnation.substack.com/p/aidan-math...
Ah, the indignity of the print-on-demand book, and the bland inferno of its clip-art cover. A teaching book though so needs must (I will not teach from an ebook). One notes the small knowing wink of the reduplicative author name.
September 15, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Ah, the indignity of the print-on-demand book, and the bland inferno of its clip-art cover. A teaching book though so needs must (I will not teach from an ebook). One notes the small knowing wink of the reduplicative author name.
Colin Burrow on Helen Vendler's Inhabit the Poem. He mentions Vendler's disagreement with Rita Dove, but not her remarkable deathbed reconciliation with her. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
September 14, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Colin Burrow on Helen Vendler's Inhabit the Poem. He mentions Vendler's disagreement with Rita Dove, but not her remarkable deathbed reconciliation with her. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
What’s water but the generated soul? At Haddo House.
September 13, 2026 at 10:53 AM
What’s water but the generated soul? At Haddo House.
Virgil’s underworld had the gates of horn and ivory; my garden fence has the gates of feline fur. Few mice who pass through live to tell the tale.
September 13, 2026 at 8:41 AM
Virgil’s underworld had the gates of horn and ivory; my garden fence has the gates of feline fur. Few mice who pass through live to tell the tale.
I learned something about physics today when my daughter told me she had found a hole she was going to jump down, and that went all the way to Australia. But how will you get back, I asked. I jump down the hole again, she told me, and it comes out in Scotland.
September 12, 2026 at 9:26 AM
I learned something about physics today when my daughter told me she had found a hole she was going to jump down, and that went all the way to Australia. But how will you get back, I asked. I jump down the hole again, she told me, and it comes out in Scotland.
Apparent two-legged cat called Bonne nuit.
September 12, 2026 at 6:06 AM
Apparent two-legged cat called Bonne nuit.
In Aberdeen’s little-visited (that I can see) Goethe library.
September 11, 2026 at 12:21 PM
In Aberdeen’s little-visited (that I can see) Goethe library.
Giants once bestrode the earth, such as Paddy Keenan, on uilleann pipes here for The Bothy Band, and who has sadly died. Ochón is Ochón ó!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgXw...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgXw...
Old Hag You Have Killed Me - The Bothy Band
YouTube video by Mick Connell
www.youtube.com
September 10, 2026 at 3:55 PM
Giants once bestrode the earth, such as Paddy Keenan, on uilleann pipes here for The Bothy Band, and who has sadly died. Ochón is Ochón ó!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgXw...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgXw...
Sheep on the Orkney island of North Ronaldsay are the only ovines in the world allergic to grass. They survive on a diet of seaweed only.
September 9, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Sheep on the Orkney island of North Ronaldsay are the only ovines in the world allergic to grass. They survive on a diet of seaweed only.
A friend told me a Scottish poet is in the habit of wearing TS Eliot’s overcoat, and here is that same poet glimpsed wearing Eliot’s waistcoat. According to Aidan Mathews.
September 9, 2026 at 1:06 PM
A friend told me a Scottish poet is in the habit of wearing TS Eliot’s overcoat, and here is that same poet glimpsed wearing Eliot’s waistcoat. According to Aidan Mathews.
Ferdia is king of the underpants gnomes.
September 9, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Ferdia is king of the underpants gnomes.
Always good to see a new Frances Leviston poem. May a new collection not be far behind.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Frances Leviston · Poem: ‘Fir, Fallen’
www.lrb.co.uk
September 8, 2026 at 12:03 PM
Always good to see a new Frances Leviston poem. May a new collection not be far behind.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
The howls of self-revisiting remorse in Ruskin’s footnotes might be the nearest thing in Victorian writing to Krapp’s Last Tape.
September 7, 2026 at 10:24 AM
The howls of self-revisiting remorse in Ruskin’s footnotes might be the nearest thing in Victorian writing to Krapp’s Last Tape.
Ruskin on lichens.
September 7, 2026 at 6:51 AM
Ruskin on lichens.
Delighted to learn, by driving through it, of the existence of Ulbster in Caithness, bounded to the south and west by Leinbster, Munbster and... Connbacht.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulbster
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulbster
Ulbster - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
September 6, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Delighted to learn, by driving through it, of the existence of Ulbster in Caithness, bounded to the south and west by Leinbster, Munbster and... Connbacht.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulbster
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulbster
Splendours of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, burial place also of St Ronald (the poet Ragnvaldr Kali Kolsson).
September 5, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Splendours of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, burial place also of St Ronald (the poet Ragnvaldr Kali Kolsson).
The Italian chapel on Orkney, built by WWII prisoners of war.
September 5, 2026 at 4:16 PM
The Italian chapel on Orkney, built by WWII prisoners of war.
Poem written on a sick bag
September 5, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Poem written on a sick bag