Over the holidays I’ve been catching up on some of the TV programmes I’ve recorded on my hard drive and watched a spectacularly wonderful one about Norman MacCaig. There were many highlights for me, but the two which really stuck were his description of a friend as someone who showed him
the usualness of the extraordinary, or the extraordinariness of the usual
and a recitation of his poem, Small Boy
He picked up a pebble
and threw it into the sea.
And another, and another.
He couldn’t stop.
He wasn’t trying to fill the sea.
He wasn’t trying to empty the beach.
He was just throwing away,
nothing else but.
Like a kitten playing
he was practicing for the future
when there’ll be so many things
he’ll want to throw away
if only his fingers will unclench
and let them go.
Heroes Not Zombies 
Loved the programme too. I thought Ally Bain was great. Coincidentally I am waiting for Norman McCaigs anthology to arrive. Assynt is my favourite part of the world http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianstevens/5107719213/
Here is a poem by Norman to go with the image…..
A Man in Assynt:
Who possesses this landscape?
The man who bought it or
the poacher staggering downhill in the early morning
with a deer on his back?
Who possesses this landscape?
the man who bought it or
I who am possessed by it?
False questions, for
this landscape is masterless
and intractable in any terms
that are human.”
Have a good New Year