The Oken Stone Podcast

Prelude Cracking To the north it was dark; the skyhanging around mountains - a mantle of water. White curtains of lace pulled closed by cyclonic air over brilliant illuminated fragments -copse, river limb, field. Rooks in chaos choreographise the swirls of westerlies that rush forwards,pressing upon all boughs and all bows to the squalling blastknocked flat crackfingered roots bent backwardssalute...

I had the pleasure recently to present some work as part of an exhibition with Rec[ount] in Barcelona. This is a really interesting project looking at how numbers, numbering and accountability influences our lives. Here is a quote from their web-site and a link to read more: “We are a small group of individuals who came together to expand the horizon of artistic and scientific debates around quant...

This is a live recording made by the very wonderful Alasdair who creates such a magic sound in The Longhouse. It brings you the whole thing, warts and all. Although you will have to use your imagination to see the warts. Thanks also to Nick Jenkins and Katch Holmes for inviting us to be part of the event. This performance was presented at Knockengorroch Festival in Galloway in May 2026. We showed...

Writing during the drifting of our planet in its relationship to the sun; moving through the equinox from winter into spring. A homage to the land journeys of amphibians everywhere. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theokenstone.substack.com/subscribe

Written and recorded on Valentine's day, 2026 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theokenstone.substack.com/subscribe

Brother Mother - Five poems for Yule Tide This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theokenstone.substack.com/subscribe

I went to Napoli recently to continue working on a collaboration with Iranian photographer Xeder. We began our project in Edinburgh in 2024 and have since passed through St Veran in the south of France arriving on Ischia and then Vomero in Naples. Our sessions in Italy were strongly coloured by visits to the National Art Gallery to look at paintings by Caravaggio and many religious epics. Our work...

This is a small collection of poems written over the last few weeks. Mostly they were written at about midnight from my room upstairs, facing East and listening to the sounds outside. The mood is an odd mixture of optimism, doubt and acceptance peculiar to that stage in my day, and this stage of my life. There may be a connection to the arrival and departure of the equinox and to Samhain. Equal le...

Fat rainbow sitting above a yawl, ghost of a herring silver beneath infra and ultra angular stacks and cliffs of Caithness the sun turns corners on calm days, rides over the tops when North and East are big in the sky; stone chat, grey wagtail corvids cloaked patrol the edges where thrift and cropped grass hold tight with rooted toes. In the sea tall wing giants wave their circular greetings caugh...

Saint Veraud My House The window, cracked admits sounds of the out, of night. Rain accumulating through grass and soil, running down into the cut of the burn. An aeroplane sings in darkness, thirty thousand steps upwards into the sky, five hundred miles each hour. The fox of last week has stopped screaming and lies now asleep for an eternity upon the metalled road. Rosebay Willow Herb invades my d...

These poems were written in response to some dreams that all happened in the same week. Some of the dreams were waking dreams or reveries experienced in odd circumstances, some were compelling enough to wake me up at night. I love having dreams, it seems to me that the unconscious state is such a vital part of our lives and we can learn so much about ourselves by paying attention to what is being...

Hibernation I crawled under the shed amongst dust and stones  why I was there is not important belly to the ground, back to timber joists next to my head a nest badly made of hay and leaves dragged there during a frozen time there too within its bed a sleeping badger sleeping for so long through ice and summers seven years since we met in January -  you had your arm around a chicken curled togethe...

A few recent poems discussing the two halves of an argument, perspectives, and landscape. The soundtrack is also a collection of moments seen from the present moment back across the space of thirty three years and includes people and places of great significance to me. Musical Credits for recordings and samples to Nicky Spence, Catherine Carter Brand, Dougie Hudson, Florencia Garcia Chafuén, Gwen...

Doppler Gang Thought it was you but no, it was just your hair on another woman’s head she said I heard you split so sorry but I wear her hide with pride. Thought I was paranoid until you stopped watching me and now my daily motions pass into obscurity, my thoughts stranded on the beach of my own emotions. Thought I was ready so I girded my loins for the afray, but hey, the stage was empty save for...

A peedie poem about a muckle bird. Albatrossicals By full moon on the first of November a great bird preened its wings hunting far out on the oceans by night and by day wandering. She cries salted tears for her lover lost in equatorial zones across the Northernmost waters and so far, so very far from home. An aviated quest for redemption a search beyond limits of sail sleeping through tempest or p...

Some thoughts on the most peculiar relationship that the fast moving modern town has to its situation. Executive versus historical. Nature versus Cafe Latte. Rocks versus paper and scissors. Support the show Thanks very much for listening. Art is an act of generosity and as such is made to be shared. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bo...

Some musings from the Irish Sea on the way from Galloway to Galway.  Support the show Thanks very much for listening. Art is an act of generosity and as such is made to be shared. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theokenstone.substack.com/subscribe

This is a further exploration of transience..... of passing to and fro...of  lives begun, lived and ended. It is also a celebration of all life.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Life Lived The Life Lived brought us both here, yours and mine, you and me. Genetic lines - I am your impurity your blood mixed; our commonality seeming clear makes each a hybridisation, nothing pure in the world. Your dea...

A few thoughts about the process of change, the fragile nature of human relationships and the value of learning how to be yourself. Becoming Other When the hysterical becomes historical, I’ll see you there -  Don’t mean to be funny but, you crack me up like crazy paving. When daily becomes doolally I’ll sort it out -  schizophrenia? I’m a mosaic for you. When the parting becomes central I’ll be mo...

The Scales Of The World is an allegorical story following the life of a tree and a man as they are both cut down. The story is presented in several short sections, each of which takes both branch and man on a transformative journey from riverbank through to a flooded world. Each section is represented through a mythical, reptilian being and invites the audience to travel on a journey of reinventio...

These are a few poems written over the past couple of weeks. I'm not sure if they are about anything, except perhaps my reaction to the passage of thoughts and emotions within myself and a reaction to the places in which I find myself. The duality of internal and external worlds seems very relevant at this time in our culture and at this moment of big global change. Support the show Thanks ve...

Awoke to a head full of histories. The birds here are going doolally for new blossoms in the trees around the house, feeding chicks, drinking heavily on nectar, facing the day as it arrives. Thought that I should try and do the same. Support the show Thanks very much for listening. Art is an act of generosity and as such is made to be shared. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this...

This is a short poem written looking across at Kapiti Island north of Wellington in New Zealand. Heavily influenced by jet-lag and what has been a very curious year for me. Support the show Thanks very much for listening. Art is an act of generosity and as such is made to be shared. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visi...

This is a studio recording of the story and music from my 2024 project Kroovan Wings. This recording will be released as an album for streaming on the 6th of December 2024 and is available now on Bandcamp: https://oceanallover.bandcamp.com/ If you want to support our project so that it can be performed in 2025 then please buy a copy of the album from Bandcamp. Kroovan Wings is a homage to trees. I...

Body Memory Mapping During this period in our lives of altered behaviours and patterns many of us will change the way we are living, even if the changes are momentary. These changes may be large or small, physical or psychological. The changes will be recorded by our memories and by our bodies. The changes may be minor and temporary or transfiguring and permanent…… or anywhere between those extrem...