Open Mic at Roots on 12th March 2026

HighlandLIT Open Mic   March 12^th 2026 at Roots Café.

We were delighted to see some new faces at the March HighlandLIT meeting, an open mic held in Roots Café on Thursday 12^th March.

The evening was chaired by Paul Shanks who introduced each of the participants, and commented perceptively on their work after they had read.

First, we heard from David Goldie, who read three wonderful poems.  ‘The Dream of Summer’, is an evocative piece inspired by the work of modernist poet Robert Duncan.

 ‘Anagnorisis’ (the word refers to the moment in Greek drama where the protagonist moves from ignorance to knowledge) references the 1960 film, ‘The Entertainer’, in which Laurence Olivier depicted ‘a failing third-rate music-hall stage performer who tries to keep his career going even as the music-hall tradition fades into history and his personal life falls apart.’ (Wikipedia)

Finally, David read ‘Dark Hours’, a villanelle describing the restless anguish of a sleepless night ‘head throbbing, soul broken’.

Next up, joining us remotely, was Iris Perrin who read the second instalment of her intriguing story about the elegant lady at the bus stop.  In this episode, she takes the bus to ‘the old inn’ and disappears inside with her heavy case. Which is strange, thinks Sandy, the other passenger, since from her appearance she could afford to stay at one of the posher hotels in town. He next sees her at the airport some time later, following an exuberant hen party group, still carrying her case, weeping profusely.  We eagerly await the next instalment!

Next, we heard from Niamh Strachan who read a memorable poem called ‘Junkie Church’.  Niamh is a social worker, and one of her clients used this phrase to describe the centre where they go for methadone. The poem, written in the first person, uses church-related imagery to describe their experience at the centre, and ends with the powerful punchline: ‘I go to the junkie church because I want to stay away.’

We heard two evocative pieces from Stephanie Riffort.  The first, a dramatic monologue entitled ‘The Crossing’ was written in response to Ken Curry’s exhibition of the same title, describing what seems to be a wedding in strange, funereal tones.  Stephanie’s other piece has at present no title – it’s a reflection arising from the practice of putting a circle of objects on the ground, including some tarot cards, and meditating on them.  You wanted to read these captivating works to absorb them more deeply.

Paul Shanks read two short, poems himself.  An older piece – ‘A glove…’ – and one on which he is still working, called ‘Diptych’, which is written in three sections in spare, intriguing language.

Malcolm Timperley  was next up, delivering ‘Your attention please!’,  a blistering piece of satire in which the Prince of Darkness makes a rare pronouncement to the world on behalf of the ‘Heaven and Hell Liaison Committee’.  In the light of the decline of goodness in the world and the lack of concern about the consequences of sin, Heaven and Hell had decided to bring forward the date of the end of the world to next Tuesday.

Heaven hoped this warning would give people time to repent;  hell that it would give people time to work through their bucket-list of sins before the day arrived. The Prince of Darkness concluded with a malicious sneer ‘I look forward to seeing every single one of you next Tuesday.’  Powerful stuff!

Finally, Euan Sinclair read three poems. One, a poem written in autumn evocatively describes a community event taking place at a bandstand in a park, ‘a crisp black evening of rapturous sounds’.  The second was ‘Bitter Island’ a reflection on the state of Britain and a ‘spark of inspiration that slowly dies away’. 

Then we heard Euan’s reflection on ‘The Monk’, based on the strange disappearance of a 93-year-old monk at Pluscarden Abbey who went out for his daily walk in the woods ands was never seen again. ‘The Lord is here, but the monk is not.’  Euan’s  choice of language, and rhythm make his work memorable.

Thanks to everyone who came along, and to everyone who took part. Thanks to Paul for chairing; to Cathy who looked after things technical and drew up the list of those who volunteered to participate; to David Goldie who liaised with Roots Café; and to the team at the Café for kindly hosting us, and for the lovely coffees, teas and cakes. 

And we’re planning to do it all again on Thursday 9th^t April.  Same time, same place. Please just drop us a line on highlandlit.com@gmail.com if you would like to read at this event.