Auld Reekie Retold

New stories of an old city retold in poetry competition

A three year collections project, Auld Reekie Retold, comes to a close tomorrow (Sunday 19 February) at the City Art Centre.

To mark the event, staff at Museums & Galleries Edinburgh have announced the results of a poetry competition hosted with the Scottish Poetry Library and Hannah Lavery, the Edinburgh Makar.

Poems had to be inspired in some way by objects in the current exhibition at the City Art Centre. Entries covered the full range of objects exhibited, from small pottery items made at the Buchans factory in Portobello to a blue dress sold by Jenners in the 1980s.

The judging panel was made up of representatives from Museums & Galleries Edinburgh and Scottish Poetry Library, with the final selection made by Hannah Lavery.

Nico Tyack, Auld Reekie Retold project manager said: “The poems were of a really high standard, and had us laughing, smiling and even crying but they all moved us and showed us the amazing power of objects.

“We all see the same objects in an exhibition, but what they mean to us varies in so many ways. It was humbling to see the collections interpreted in such creative ways.”

Culture and Communities Convener, Cllr Val Walker, said: “The poems are a moving and beautiful closure to the Auld Reekie Retold exhibition and project.

“Auld Reekie Retold was all about celebrating the shared public ownership of the collections, so what better way to tell new stories about the city than letting the people of Edinburgh do the talking?”

The winning entries were:

Under-18
Jiffy Washing Machine by Archer Thomson Adams

Over-18 
First place, It is your turn, by Lynda McDonald
Second place, Mind?, by Alison Findlay

Highly commended
The Impermanent Collection by Iain Macfarlane and The Ballant o’ Hugh McKail’s Guid Beuk by Sam Phipps.

This short film shows the poets reading their winning entries, with images of the objects that inspired them.