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Alec Finlay

@alecfinlay.bsky.social
4K followers 3.7K following 1.7K posts

artist and poet; ecological remediation and human recuperation; landscape, tea, limit and creativity; lives by the sea in Edinburgh; mostly sharing a daily poem here.

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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 19h
watershed walks, Mar Lodge, with Gill Russell.
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 19h
pobble (I) the river treats its pebbles differently to the sea (II) the pebbles are sorted twice daily by the tide 1.X.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
An eilrig, or deer trap, at Invercauld. A tainchell would drive deer, wolves, and boar into this confined spaces, where, in the days before guns, young clansmen would do battle with them in a ritual combat. bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/09/29/b...
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
kirke what else to top the kirke but black the deep dark of charred pine root 30.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I can announce today that, comrades, we will expand democracy in this great country of ours, and comrades we will deny a referendum in that country of yours.
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Tom Snarsky @tomsnarsky.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Lorine Niedecker
We are what the seas
have made us

longingly immense

the very veery
on the fence
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
An essay on the hunting cult and healing the land, on Bella Caledonia. bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/09/29/b...
bellacaledonia.org.uk
Bùirich
Reflections on hunting and the Scottish psyche. ‘The Cone Gatherers’, performed by Communicado at Tramway in 1991, was one of my earliest and most affecting theatrical experiences. It was performed…
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
a memory of summer from up here my marigolds make sure the sun is stuck on amber 29.IX.26
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Old Hollywood @theoldhollywood.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Director Michael Powell, Raymond Massey, Abraham Sofaer, Kim Hunter, David Niven and Roger Livesey between takes on the set of A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Director Michael Powell and actors Raymond Massey, Abraham Sofaer, Kim Hunter, David Niven and Roger Livesey — Powell in a dark-coloured suit, the actors in costume, Massey dressed in Revolutionary War garb, Sofaer in white judge's robe and wig, Hunter in military skirt suit, Niven in RAF pilot uniform, Livesey in a dark-coloured suit — captured together, the actors standing in a group, a troupe of other actors behind them in surgical garb surrounding a bed, Powell seated on a platform above them alongside a film camera, multiple crew members around him, in a full-length black-and-white shot taken during a break from filming on the set of A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
from The Walkative Revolution, 2025
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
who draws the nights in well, I do, says the sun 29.IX.26
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Mike Small @bellacaledonia.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Specialism is political. Our traditions are worth understanding and valuing and defending bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/09/27/o...
bellacaledonia.org.uk
On Scottish Generalism
Scotland suffers from institutional memory loss. One of the hidden aspects of the massive cuts to the University of Edinburgh announced last week is the attack on the eroded and hollowed-out Scotti…
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
for marjory two crows, one pretending to be a drone two drones, one pretending to be a crow 28.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
1. Members of the Radical Rest Collective composing the first radical rest renga at Wardie Bay. The idea was to fold rest into the labour of composing the poem. An extract below.
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
1. I seem to be quoted in The Times today, not that I will see it. This is the original quote. 'I was taught by great thinkers like Murdo Macdonald and Peter Kravitz, who helped usher in a new enlightenment of Scottish literature.
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Machair hen
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
end of the summer the nails are off the violin is scraping its way towards the expert concerts of autumn 25.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
my friend tells me The incomers are rewilding the field by the river with pink elderflowers. They come from some- where else. For cordial, they say, sweet– but hardly friendly. 24.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Nationalise Energy. Nationalise Water. Nationalise Cheese.
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
pe gg in go ut th ew as hi ng 23.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Once a university is freed from the ties of studying its native culture then it is at liberty to move anywhere it wishes, to become a more profitable business. To some this is progress.
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
bend with it– say the grasses let me find you– says the light 22.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Medwin the bends in the river where we swam meander on– only daring diminishes 21.IX.26
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
NASA picture of the day today is a real 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿beauty! This is a composite image of the ~5000yo Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis. The amazing Giuseppe Petricca has only gone and photographed the Sun at noon there, every few days, for a whole year. #Dedication 🔭🧪👌 ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/image-articl...
The imposing Callanish Stones stand talk with their shadows spanning out across the glass.  It's a super clear sky, but looks cold. Above the central stone is a strange figure-of-8 shape of dots.  This is the location of the Sun, at noon, on various different days across the year.
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
1. The general evisceration of culture at University of Edinburgh is appalling; how can a centre of learning in Scotland justify cutting these courses? Religious Studies and Scottish Literature (UG) History of Art and Scottish Literature (UG) Celtic and Scottish Lit (UG), conts.
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
this judge’s suffragettes are a sentiment that has little to do with the suffragettes 20.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
viewing Rum from Tarskavaig Sat here, side on to the cloud- catching skyline of Rum which Sweeney imprinted in my mind the screen of peaks has turned into a hinterland of island. 19.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Solidarity with university staff. A memory of late 1980s. The principal at Stirling, Sir Ken Alexander, reassuring students there would be no closures under his tenure, to see off protests. He knew he was retiring next term and all the threatened departments closed. Management is as management does.
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Medusa
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
she asks if the wild carrot has real carrot underneath it 18.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
2000: we must commit to doing this thing by 2010. 2010: we must commit to doing this thing by 2025. 2025: we must commit to doing this thing by 2030. 2045: we must commit to doing this thing by 2060.
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The Onion @theonion.com · 17/09/2026
Barefoot Ed Sheeran Introduces Sock Puppets That Will Open For Him On Tour theonion.com/barefoot-ed-sheeran-in…
Barefoot Ed Sheeran Introduces Sock Puppets That Will Open For Him On Tour
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Sgeir nam Fiadh we can’t work out where deer skerry is from the beach until high tide picks it out 17.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I see no ships.
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Paul Eric @pauleric70.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
How Trumps war with Iran is going 😎🤬🍊💩
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
“I have feelings about the law too, but the law won”, by Ed Sheeran
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
If Canada can be an associate member of the EU, can Palestine?
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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received - and that consequently, this country is at war with Piddington.
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
morning quiz: Name one industry which ever regulated itself without governmental oversight. Show your workings.
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
2014 and all that today the Celtic nations met together to discuss the future tomorrow England is going to meet with itself to discuss the past 16.IX.26
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
To counter the historic meeting between the three Celtic nations I hear that England is going to be meeting itself tomorrow. I expect to hear great things on R4 Today.
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Kirkdale Bookshop @kirkdalebooks.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Damn, this goes hard. Great way to start a book
The beginning of Alice Oswald's new book "Rhapsody: A Manifesto"
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
proposal for a redesign of the tree to allow the easy passage of small mammals.
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Parami @parami2u.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Here it is 👏👏👏❤️
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Robin Kinross @kinross.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
On some books published by TLB: Peter Handke | Douglas Oliver & J.H. Prynne | John Wilkinson robinkinross.substack.com/p/four-books...
robinkinross.substack.com
Four books from The Last Books
works by Peter Handke | Douglas Oliver and J.H. Prynne | John Wilkinson
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
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Alec Finlay @alecfinlay.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
the this of pain the that of the body 13.IX.26
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