The Earth Says is the most recent PlaySpace publication: a poem card with an image of a stupa – sculpture by Ratnadevi symbolising the  elements Earth Water Fire Air Space. Single cards are £2.00 which includes postage (or six cards for £10.00 which includes postage). Fifty percent (50%) of each sale goes to ‘Friends of the Earth Scotland‘. The Earth Says will be available by the end of January.

Copies of Wee Dods of Kismet are now available – most copies have been given to family & friends. There are 30 copies available at £5 each raising money for Freedom from Torture.

Sam Tongue says: These wee dods from Margaret Donaldson are small, bright, and intricately veined stepping-stones. The majority of the poems are experiments with form and structure, the poet taking an idea for a walk and creating visual metaphors that want to run over and off the page and into the world. What strikes the reader who is invited to walk alongside is the abiding honesty at the heart of the work, that the poet believes that poetry is a way of truth-telling, albeit telling it slant. The sound and sway and sheer fun of words is here in evidence; and it is infectious.

‘Today, Today, Today’ by Alec Finlay is still in print raising money for The Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres;  and ‘Requiem’ by David Donnison has raised over £200 for Freedom from Torture

Poets who would like to join a writing appreciation group in Glasgow, I recommend the ‘Bank Street Writers‘ (who don’t meet in Bank Street). I’ve heard there are a couple of places (this group is usually limited to eight writers) – contact Bev:  bevschofield@hotmail.com for more information. And if you would like to explore how poetry and spiritual practice compliment each other, come to The Poet’s Way and  And to keep informed about poetry in Glasgow join St. Mungo’s Mirrorball, and for everything else writing and poetry-wise try:   The Scottish Writer’s Centre, Scottish Poetry Library (SPL) which sadly will be closed for several months, but the good news is they building an extension.

For more in-depth writing practice and mentoring, go on a Arvon Foundation Retreat, or join me, Linda France and Ratnadevi, in the seven days and nights over the Summer Solstice by Loch Voil in The Trossachs at the Dhanakosa retreat centre.

Our next PlaySpace Publication: Lost Words – by Dorothy Stafford, £5.00 – will be in print by February 2014. Dorothy and William Stafford (former USA Poet Laureate) collected the first words and phrases as their children grew up. Dorothy has written an insightful introduction to this 36 page pamphlet . This will be raising money for Parent Network Scotland.

May you have happy days touching the earth now & throughout 2014.

Larry Butler (editor)

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