ed Eleanor Livingstone

Published in association with HappenStance, Migraasje collects 'versions in Scots and Shetlandic' of poems written in Frisian. The original six Frisian poems (by different poets)bring up the rear of the set. They're preceded by the 'versions' -- so you can find up to four versions of some of the poems in different forms of Scots and, of course, Shetlandic.

Eleanor Livingstone provides an introduction to the project. As you work through the versions towards the original Frisian, language barriers start to blur and shimmer--and finally they almost disappear. There is information about all the poets involved but no spoon-feeding of the reader and no glossary. If there had been, it would probably have been longer than the pamphlet itself. But as Livingstone points out: "the 19 versions have their own dialogue...they counter-translate one another, as well as illustrating the breadth and depth of Scotland's voices".

The result is fascinating and, so far as I can see, unique.
 

Poets:

Christine de Luca

Rab Wilson

Liz Niven

William Hershaw

Alexander Hutchison

Janet Paisley

Albertina Soepboer

Tsead Bruinja

Cornelis van der Wal

Abe de Vries

Anne Feddema

Elmar Kuipar