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Iona CD
Inspiring so many of his best-loved poems, the beautiful Hebridean island of Iona has always been a place of deep spiritual significance to Kenneth Steven. Backed by evocative sound-scapes and the haunting clarsach, Kenneth reads movingly from his profound and enchanting work.
Tracklisting
1 - A Lark
2 - The Small Giant
3 - Iona
4 - The Birth
5 - The Well
6 - The Island
7 - The Search
8 - The Novemberland
9 - Gaelic
10 -That Year
11 -Geese
12 - Sea Urchins
13 -Clarsach
14 -Jura
15 - Argyll
16 - Saturdays
17 - Island
18 - Columba
19 - The Colourists
20 -The Stars
21 - Daffodils
22 -The Tennis Court
23 - Logie
24 -The Sea Change
25 - The Corncrake
26 - Islands
27 - November
Tracklisting
1 - A Lark
2 - The Small Giant
3 - Iona
4 - The Birth
5 - The Well
6 - The Island
7 - The Search
8 - The Novemberland
9 - Gaelic
10 -That Year
11 -Geese
12 - Sea Urchins
13 -Clarsach
14 -Jura
15 - Argyll
16 - Saturdays
17 - Island
18 - Columba
19 - The Colourists
20 -The Stars
21 - Daffodils
22 -The Tennis Court
23 - Logie
24 -The Sea Change
25 - The Corncrake
26 - Islands
27 - November
- GenresPoetry
4 pages, Audio CD
Published May 22, 2009
23 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth Steven
111 books10 followersKenneth Steven is a translator, writer, and poet. His longest translation, The Half Brother, was long-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and short-listed for the international IMPAC Award. He often completes work for NORLA (Norwegian Literature Abroad).
He lives in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland.
He lives in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 28, 2021
I went poking through Hoopla and rediscovered this book of poetry from/about the Isle of Iona. I spent three days there in 1999 but it really is a special place and the poems grapple with that, from a changing focus in theme of its history, to the legendary people who have passed through, to the spirituality of the place, to the unique landscape, to the memories of the poet's childhood, etc. They brought up memories for me too.
This diversion prompted by the last month of the Readtheworld21 challenge!
This diversion prompted by the last month of the Readtheworld21 challenge!
June 29, 2021
Summary: A collection of poems connected to the island of Iona, the spiritual home of the author.
The island of Iona, part of the Inner Hebrides, located off the west coast of Scotland has been a destination of spiritual pilgrims from around the world. The Iona Abbey is a focal point, purported founded by St. Columba, an exile from Ireland, who brought Celtic Christianity to the island, and Scotland in turn. It became a center of scholarship and monasticism throughout the isles. It is believed that the Book of Kells was at least begun here.
Between the island’s rugged beauty, history, and the abbey, it is regarded by many as a “thin place,” one where the veil between earth and heaven, humans and God seems especially thin. Kenneth Steven, a widely published poet and frequent BBC guest, has spent summers since childhood and longer periods on the island, roving its hills and beaches, often barefoot, as he notes in many of his poems. In this book, poems written on the island on many occasions and for different publications are gathered together. It is apparent that Iona is a “thin place” for Steven, a title of one of his poems and the questions he asks in a poem titled “Iona: “Is this place really nearer to God?/Is the wall thin between our whispers/and his listening?
Many of the poems begin with simple observations of the natural world–of otters, butterflies, spider webs, geese, and woodpeckers. Others hark to the past of the island. We imagine the harp of a Celtic bard or the fiddle of St Kilda. We observe Columba in prayer in the marshlands. We visit the ruins of Clonmacnoise monastery, imagining the community of men who broke the water of wells and lit turf fires in winter.
Some of the poetry in the collection reflect his devotion. In “Honestly,” Steven encounters God not in the stone buildings but the moorlands. In “Island,” he describes coming to the island with prayers that were “ragged things,” the breaking of the jar of his heart, and leaving the island “see through, clear.” “Prayer” wonders how anyone could not believe in God after a blue spring day, fields, orchids, the sea, the wind.
The last part of the book takes us from Iona to the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the communities of the Amish and more global reflections on the land, and on the realities of Good Friday and Resurrection. Yet we cannot help but think that his thoughts take him back to Iona in his final poem in this collection, “Sacred Place.”
This is poetry that lingers long enough in a place to see and receive what is present. To linger in these poems is to glimpse and imagine the world of Iona, as seen and experienced by the author. Until you or I can visit, these poems take us to this “thin place” known as Iona.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
The island of Iona, part of the Inner Hebrides, located off the west coast of Scotland has been a destination of spiritual pilgrims from around the world. The Iona Abbey is a focal point, purported founded by St. Columba, an exile from Ireland, who brought Celtic Christianity to the island, and Scotland in turn. It became a center of scholarship and monasticism throughout the isles. It is believed that the Book of Kells was at least begun here.
Between the island’s rugged beauty, history, and the abbey, it is regarded by many as a “thin place,” one where the veil between earth and heaven, humans and God seems especially thin. Kenneth Steven, a widely published poet and frequent BBC guest, has spent summers since childhood and longer periods on the island, roving its hills and beaches, often barefoot, as he notes in many of his poems. In this book, poems written on the island on many occasions and for different publications are gathered together. It is apparent that Iona is a “thin place” for Steven, a title of one of his poems and the questions he asks in a poem titled “Iona: “Is this place really nearer to God?/Is the wall thin between our whispers/and his listening?
Many of the poems begin with simple observations of the natural world–of otters, butterflies, spider webs, geese, and woodpeckers. Others hark to the past of the island. We imagine the harp of a Celtic bard or the fiddle of St Kilda. We observe Columba in prayer in the marshlands. We visit the ruins of Clonmacnoise monastery, imagining the community of men who broke the water of wells and lit turf fires in winter.
Some of the poetry in the collection reflect his devotion. In “Honestly,” Steven encounters God not in the stone buildings but the moorlands. In “Island,” he describes coming to the island with prayers that were “ragged things,” the breaking of the jar of his heart, and leaving the island “see through, clear.” “Prayer” wonders how anyone could not believe in God after a blue spring day, fields, orchids, the sea, the wind.
The last part of the book takes us from Iona to the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the communities of the Amish and more global reflections on the land, and on the realities of Good Friday and Resurrection. Yet we cannot help but think that his thoughts take him back to Iona in his final poem in this collection, “Sacred Place.”
This is poetry that lingers long enough in a place to see and receive what is present. To linger in these poems is to glimpse and imagine the world of Iona, as seen and experienced by the author. Until you or I can visit, these poems take us to this “thin place” known as Iona.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
March 12, 2019
A beautiful lyrical weaving together of nature, relationships, faith, and a wealth of emotions.
June 18, 2020
3.75 stars
July 26, 2014
A lovely, soulful introduction to the poetic spirit of the islands of the west.
I bought this about ten years ago, after coming across the poem 'prayer' in the Herald, and being dumbstruck, blown away by reading it. At that time I was living in the city, working in an office all hours, and yet my soul remembered the feeling of those sublime moments of the places of the edge. I'd say that poem and others in this book were part of some deep, life-changing decisions for me, and I love the book for that.
My hunger now though is to read things that are in a Gaelic or somehow come more deeply from the Gaelic place and way of seeing, which somehow this isn't.
Still, a lovely, moving and simple collection of poems, and easily accessible to those who don't 'get' poetry.
I bought this about ten years ago, after coming across the poem 'prayer' in the Herald, and being dumbstruck, blown away by reading it. At that time I was living in the city, working in an office all hours, and yet my soul remembered the feeling of those sublime moments of the places of the edge. I'd say that poem and others in this book were part of some deep, life-changing decisions for me, and I love the book for that.
My hunger now though is to read things that are in a Gaelic or somehow come more deeply from the Gaelic place and way of seeing, which somehow this isn't.
Still, a lovely, moving and simple collection of poems, and easily accessible to those who don't 'get' poetry.
September 11, 2011
Enchanting and inspiring!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews