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Poems by Len Pennie, to start Women's History Month at Street Prophets Coffee Hour [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-01
“. . . courage and truth and fierce fire” indeed.
I’ve ‘met’ and discovered and connected with some amazing people on Twitter. As much as the site is now maligned, it’s still an important connection for me. Spoutible has dropped off my radar. Blue Sky is doing well enough in health and politics. But there are still some important voices I can’t let go of on Xitter. Len Pennie is one of those.
I don’t ‘know’ Len. She’s found it necessary to lock down her account for safety reasons, and I understand and respect that. She’s been subjected to intense disrespect and abuse online, following long term domestic violence in her own life, and she needs to protect herself. And good for her, for enforcing her boundaries. So if you aren’t already following her on Xitter, you may not be able to access her work there.
I respect copyright. I’ve used only what I’ve been given permission to use in private correspondence with Len.
Best seller on the London Times Sunday booklist.
So who is Len Pennie? She’s an amazing Scottish woman, born in 1999, with a passion for the Scots language (not Scottish Gaelic, which I have a smattering of, but Scots, which I don’t speak at all). She began some years ago posting “Scots Word of the Day” short videos on Twitter, and attracted a following. Those of us who have been following her from the beginning are still able to do that on Xitter, but no new accounts are allowed.
And then she began posting videos where she reads her own poetry. It’s powerful and intense—see the comment on the dust jacket about “fierce fire”—and draws on her life as a woman, speaking to the world about being a woman.
Not to violate copyright, I’ll link to some of the videos and minimize the amount of poetry I post here. I think they all have subtitles, in case you struggle with the accent.
She’s pinned a poem about Scots on her profile page: “I’m no havin’ children”. It begins: “I’m no havin’ children, I’ll have weans instead.”
One of several poems relating to her experiences with domestic violence:
And “Justice” (some of this will sound very true of our society here, too):
She reads more of her poetry. You can watch one of these on YouTube, then click through to her page, where you’ll find more poyums and her “Scots Word [or Phrase] of the Day” short videos.
She now has a podcast, and she’s been featured on a number of other programs. Here’s one (her part begins at about 11:25):
Her book is available in Scotland at Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh and at Amazon in the US (because isn’t everything?) and other book sites. In it, she writes poetry of her experiences with intimate partner abuse as well as navigating her world as a young woman struggling with mental health issues while trying to work within the legal system to hold her abuser accountable.
A brief history of her situation is recounted here.
I’m quite old, three times her age. I’m not sure I have, even yet, the clarity of thought and expression that Len brings to her life—and to mine.
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