Reliquiæ is an annual journal of poetry, short fiction, non-fiction, translations and visual art. Each issue collects together both old and new work from a diverse range of writers and artists with common interests spanning landscape, ecology, folklore, esoteric philosophy and animism.
In the latest volume (three) can be found:
New work:
Hans Brückner: Writing on the gaze, non-looking and language's 'cloak of invisibility' / Angus Carlyle: Excerpts from Silent Mountain, reflecting on perception and altitude in the Picentini mountains / Thomas A Clark: A poetic meditation on the colour yellow, from gorse, pollen and saffron to the 'yellow palace' at the centre of the world / Ken Cockburn: Eight topographical poem-miniatures / Alec Finlay: Excerpts from Gathering, a wide-ranging poetic exploration of the place-names of the Cairngorm region of Scotland / Ross Hair: An exploration of the visionary work of Ronald Johnson, Geoffrey Grigson and Samuel Palmer / Gerry Loose: Five gnomic, poetic Cantations for Endangered Species / Rob St. John: Writing on nocturnal rivers, Salmo trutta and the well-weighted line / Richard Skelton: An elegy for the badger, from his forthcoming book, Beyond the Fell Wall / Mark Valentine: An enigmatic found-object poem entitled Properties / Chris Watson: A fascinating account of making field recordings of ravens in Anglesey and Northumberland, interwoven with Norse folklore.
Archive work:
Four esoteric poems from Æ (George William Russell); a selection of Aino folktales and myths, translated by Basil Hall Chamberlain; writings on Ossian, his mother and the occult power of the Fath Fith by Alexander Carmichael; The Blue of Flax,a poetic reverie on perception and memory, by Thomas A. Clark; an essay on Earth-Mother cults by Edward Clodd; Field Notes, a poignant nocturne by Don Domanski; a fragment from the Poetic Edda on the suffering of Yggdrasil, the 'world tree', translated by Olive Bray; a hermetic fragment from Goethe, translated by Hans Brückner & Richard Skelton; a selection from the mystical poetry of Kabir; three poems from Tim Lilburn's revelatory collection, Moosewood Sandhills, along with his contemplative essay How to be Here?; writing on the sadness of thrushes by E.J. Moor; the beautiful ornithological illustrations of F.O. Morris; the spiritual aphorisms of Rabindranath Tagore; some wildwood fragments from E. Tickner Edwardes; Baltersan's Third Edition, an evocative short story on the lost words by Mark Valentine; some visionary fragments from Jürgen von der Wense; a selection from the journals of Gilbert White; some luminous excerpts from the writing of W.B. Yeats
I could write at length about the wealth of audio recordings, texts and art produced by Autumn Richardson and Richard Skelton, the editors of Reliquiae, through their self-run Corbel Stone Press, but really don't have the words to do it all justice. Information on their richly abundant and diverse output can be found on their website. I would unconditionally recommend this wellspring for anyone with an interest in artistic responses to place, nature and landscape.You can order the 2015 issue of Reliquiae here and see information on the first two issues here and here.
Richard also has a new book, Beyond the Fell Wall, published by the equally magnificent Little Toller Books.
