16 days ae activism
16 days ae activism agin gender based violence is a campaign tae gie a voice tae the fecht agin domestic abuse, sexual assaut an aw other forms ae violence cairit oot agin wimen an lassies. Abuse isnae yer faut, an theres aye free, confidential help oot there fur aw thaim thats gaun through abuse, assault or gender based-violence. Yell can access help an support fae the links ablow.
https://lgbtdomesticabuse.org.uk/resources/
https://scotland.shelter.org.uk/about_us
Tae mark the 16 days ae activism, we hae twa pieces fae the new Galloway Scots Scriever, Susi Briggs, aboot survival. Susi is a storyteller, makar an musician fae Dumfries an Galloway. Aye passionate aboot literacy in the Scots leid, Susi scrieves sangs, poetry an picture books, an shes a co creator ae the shortlisted storytelling show Oor Wee Podcast. Her three picture books wur aw shortlisted fur Scots Bairns' Book o the Year.
Spelkit by Susi Briggs
She spun adrift
When the cracked veneer split
He aimed barbed words
Garbed as humour
While the hauns grupped
wi a gloved concern
Chowked wi naked disbelief
She refused tae crumble tae dust
Insteid she desperately swallaed
Her bruised and spelkit rage
Tae submerge deeply numbed
Whaur the grief echoes empty.
Selvage by Susi Briggs
Wi feathered breiths
She blaws aff the stoor
On aw she has hidden
She unfolds the corners
Lays it flat tae see it hale
Winces at it in the licht
She kens
This tapestry was woven
No by her ain hauns
Unrelentingly, it's still hers
At the edge she pulls
The drab ragged strands
It will ne'er unravel enough
She hears the loodest silence
And floats in the liminal
Gaitherin gossamer thrieds
That skinkle atween the stars
Yieldin tae the truth she maks
Her thrummin hert a shuttle
Ready tae weave hersel anew
An stitch invisible mends.