Review of Whit ails, whit heals
Francis Boutle Publishers, which specialises in minority European language publications, recently released two Scottish poetry collections: Athair / Father in Scottish Gaelic and English by Christopher Whyte, and Whit Ails, Whit Heals / Ce Qui Afflige, Ce Qui Apaise, a Shaetlan / English poetry collection from Christine De Luca, translated into French by Jean-Yves Le Disez.
Handsomely produced, Boutle books usually show the original language on one page, with the facing page giving an English translation. Previous featured languages have included Faroese (rarely translated into English) and Latgalian (a language from the south-east of Lativa). Boutle books open up cultures and share their differences, while highlighting universal themes.
Whit Ails, Whit Heals / Ce Qui Afflige, Ce Qui Apaise has a particularly unusual set-up with languages. Original poems by Christine De Luca are in Shaetlan (Shetlandic Scots) and in English, which are then translated into French by Jean-Yves Le Disez. As someone who speaks English and French, this meant that sometimes I had to look to the French translation to understand a Shaetlan word. This seemed fitting when considering the discussions over language that Francis Boutle is contributing to: taking Scottish writing somewhere different, or, as the book's blurb says, taking Shaetlan 'out of its island context', and 'freeing' the poems to find 'a different music'.
The genesis for the book, and the translations, was Christine De Luca's invitation to the 2024 Trois Rivières International Poetry Festival in Quebec, Canada. This major annual festival has been running for 40 years, attracts thousands of participants, and involves poets from all over the world.
Christine De Luca is a very skilled poet, and there is so much going on in each short poem here. 'Dat Trickster Sun' opens the collection, filling the view from the window 'wi shaeps / o laands at you could mak your ain - / islands beyond islands, dreamscapes / you could aa but map...', but even as the sun shows rainbow possibilities 'You're stuck in da here an noo...' The poet is sometimes getting older, sometimes slowing down and reflecting on memories, but they can still look out and engage with the world and see the miraculous, 'a slow air / ta turn you inside oot, ta brack a heart.' Each line is full of such wonderful imagery and carefully-placed words that I could almost just quote the whole thing.
There are some poems about other places too, including Manitoba, Canada - 'Canada geese are harvesting stubble; / the prairie is awash with them' - but the main setting is Scotland. Not always Shetland - that is where the compass is set to (that 'ootbye perspective'), but this isn't really a collection about identity's link to place. Instead, the Shetlandic perspective runs deeper, the poems often looking at moments and memories of people's lives: the cousins' aunt, 'Quiet keeper of scullery and stove', or a mother who 'lets / her little one career down Lauder Road / on his first two wheeler.' There are children too, and elderly relatives - people who need cared for - and these are caring poems, though with a streak of practicality rather than sentimentality: 'not about what's beautiful / but touched upon a frailty shared / and all the caring lessons of this life.'
This is a gorgeous, outward-looking, generous collection, the very best writing to represent Scotland on an international stage.
This review was written by Jennifer Henderson.
Review of 'Whit ails, whit heals', Jennifer Morag Henderson, Gutter, Issue 31, February 2025