Christine DeLuca is published both nationally and internationally, and writes in both Shetlandic and English. Her first two collections won The Shetland Literary Prize and in 2004 Makkin Sooth Eshaness, won the Rhoda Bulter Prize for Shetland Dialect. Poems have been translated into Swedish, Latvian, Polish, Austrian-German, French, Italian, Welsh and English!

“Her Shetland poems, written in the beautiful Scots of those islands - a blend of Old Scots and Norn - seemed to hanker for a simple and pure way of life which was marvellously evoked in image and sound .... They are poems with a sense of place, sympathy, commitment to language, the urge to celebrate life itself.” Douglas Lipton

Christine DeLuca performed at the Bakehouse, Saturday June 30th 2007

 

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Da sea, hjarta

Da sea‘s haand trivvels da trimmlin limb
o laand: daily shö wylcomes his comins
an gyaains; der sochs an quwilks aboot
der secret tryst; a rivin an lettin go
athin der makkin o blaahöle or a gyo.
Sometimes he‘s filsket an höves himsel
far far intil her, till shö‘s sabbin, plötin.
Lang micht he seek her oot, lang meld
wi her, ta keep her young an vital.
Sho‘s fairest dere ithin his touch;
her fine sides buskit wi banks-flooers,
bouquets o aertbark, violet an squill.
Shö‘ll age peerie-wyes, lowse his grip
apön her; lippen a mair gentle lover.

The sea, my love

The sea‘s hand gentles the trembling limb
of land: daily she welcomes his comings
and goings; their sighs and swallowings
about their secret tryst; a tearing and letting go
within their making of blowhole or a gyo.*
Sometimes he‘s spirited an heaves himself
far far inside her, till she‘s soaking, pleading.
Long might he seek her out, long consort
with her, to keep her young and vital.
She‘s fairest there within his touch;
her fine sides be-decked with thrift,
bouquets of tormentil, violet and squill.
She‘ll age gently, loose his grip upon her;
expect a more gentle lover.

Christine DeLuca

*gyo is a steep, narrow rocky inle

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