Poetry from the Past
The Scottish Poetry Library was founded in 1984. It has built up a comprehensive collection of books on poetry, and operates as a lending library which is open to all, but it also works with a range of partners 'to bring poetry in all forms to all readers'. For the past three years, the Poetry Library has organised a series of projects which have brought poetry and the built environment together in creative collaboration. In 2006, RCAHMS joined with Edinburgh World Heritage Trust and the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland to support the project. Images from the RCAHMS archive were used in competition packs distributed throughout schools in Scotland, and RCAHMS was represented on the competition judging panel.
In Poet in the House (2004) and Poet in Public (2005), school pupils had been encouraged to exercise their observational and language skills by focusing on the built environment and expressing their response creatively, through poetry. For 2006, the theme was 'Poet in the Past', with primary and secondary pupils being asked to look at the historical built environment around them and to make this the basis of a poetic response. Entries were judged by a panel drawn from the partner organisations with specialist advice coming from the Edinburgh Makar, Valerie Gillies. The winners were Scott McKenna from Dumfries with his touching poem on 'Sweetheart Abbey', and Andrew Davidson from Prestonpans, who was inspired by Preston Cross and Preston Tower to write a proud celebration of 'Ma Toon'.
The Scottish Poetry Library is based in Crichton's Close, off the Canongate in Edinburgh, in a building which was shortlisted for Channel 4's 'Building of the Year' in 2000. Designed by Malcolm Fraser Architects, it brings a new meaning to the concept of a 'concrete poem', as Malcolm Fraser himself made clear:
"I look on this building as a poem that we've made together, composed from light, view, rhythm, embrace, movement, gathering, colour, texture and metaphor to express the joy of poetry, and optimism for its future within our culture."