Shows
The Oken Stone PodcastBrother MotherBrother 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
2025-12-2808 min
The Oken Stone PodcastCarcere (Prison)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 was also flavoured by the haunted streets of Pompeii, and by the presence of a large octopus from the local market.Altogether a very dynamic and dramatic time.
2025-11-1212 min
The Oken Stone PodcastPoems During The Fall Of LeavesThis 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 levels of lightness and darkness and a descent into winter.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`Ginger TomMet a dead cat...
2025-10-0712 min
The Oken Stone PodcastFerryFat 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 caught in the downwards slant of an afternoon sun that burns through the speeding clouds.Badly bitten on the hand finger and bone cut through...
2025-09-2407 min
The Oken Stone PodcastMenuettSaint VeraudMy HouseThe 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 dreams, purple lances and drifts of feathered seeds. At this hour the day falls with question, may never arise from its bed, all is still and...
2025-09-0303 min
The Oken Stone PodcastKeeping TimeThese 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 offered at these times. You may or may not agree with psycho-analytical or spiritual interpretations of dreams, but it is fairly certain that...
2025-08-1110 min
The Oken Stone PodcastKeeping Time - four poems from dreamsThese 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 offered at these times. You may or may not agree with psycho-analytical or spiritual interpretations of dreams, but it is fairly certain that...
2025-08-1010 min
The Oken Stone PodcastHibernationHibernationI crawled under the shedamongst dust and stones why I was there is not importantbelly to the ground, back to timber joistsnext to my head a nestbadly made of hay and leavesdragged thereduring a frozen timethere too within its beda sleeping badgersleeping for so longthrough ice and summersseven years sincewe met in January - ...
2025-07-2105 min
The Oken Stone PodcastTwo HalvesA 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 Sale, Breezy Lee, Marion and Jamie Kenny, Oliver and Anders Rigg.Two HalvesAn axe is only metalwithout a handleand a tail without a horseis o...
2025-06-2719 min
The Oken Stone PodcastDoppler GangDoppler GangThought it was you but no,it was just your hairon another woman’s headshe said I heardyou split so sorrybutI wear her hide with pride.Thought I was paranoiduntil you stopped watching meand now my daily motionspass into obscurity,my thoughts strandedon the beachof my own emotions.Thought I was ready soI girded my loinsfor the afray, but hey,the stage was empty
2025-06-1703 min
The Oken Stone PodcastAlbatrossicalsA peedie poem about a muckle bird.AlbatrossicalsBy full moon on the first of Novembera great bird preened its wingshunting far out on the oceansby night and by day wandering.She cries salted tears for her loverlost in equatorial zonesacross the Northernmost watersand so far, so very far from home.An aviated quest for redemptiona search beyond limits of sailsleeping through tempest or perilfallen down on the back of a whale.
2025-05-1808 min
The Oken Stone PodcastMonument RoadSome 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 showThanks 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
2025-04-0905 min
The Oken Stone PodcastLoch RyanSome musings from the Irish Sea on the way from Galloway to Galway. Support the showThanks 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
2025-04-0609 min
The Oken Stone PodcastThe Life LivedThis 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 LivedThe Life Livedbrought us both here,yours and mine,you and me.Genetic lines -I am your impurityyour blood mixed;our commonalityseeming clearmakes each a hybridisation,nothing pure in the world.Your dear dead wife,was she the sorceressor the apprentice,the saucer or th...
2025-03-0106 min
The Oken Stone PodcastBecoming OtherA few thoughts about the process of change, the fragile nature of human relationships and the value of learning how to be yourself.Becoming OtherWhen the hysterical becomes historical,I’ll see you there - Don’t mean to be funny but,you crack me uplike crazy paving.When daily becomes doolallyI’ll sort it out - schizophrenia?I’m a mosaic for you.When the parting becomes centralI’ll be more Man -for god’s sake -Just kic...
2025-02-2209 min
The Oken Stone PodcastThe Scales of the WorldThe 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 reinvention and transcendence.Prelude - Cracking. A thunderstorm moves down from the mountains and lightening strikes an ancient willow tree. The fallen willow is carried by the...
2025-02-111h 04
The Oken Stone PodcastReality Is GoneThese 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 showThanks very much for listening. Art is an act of generosity and as such is made to be shared.
2024-12-1414 min
The Oken Stone PodcastHeart MurmurAwoke 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 showThanks 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
2024-12-0203 min
The Oken Stone PodcastOtaihangaThis 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 showThanks 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
2024-11-2702 min
The Oken Stone PodcastKroovan Wings - a tall tale.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. In Gaelic craobh (pronounced kroov) means 'tree'. It is a celebration of two magnificent trees, an Ash and a Sycamore, that stand...
2024-11-1629 min
The Oken Stone PodcastBody Memory MappingBody Memory MappingDuring 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 extremes. A person who had never bothered with growing things before may have become an avid gardener, developing callouses on their hands in the process. Some...
2024-11-1508 min
The Oken Stone PodcastMonsterThis is a poem from 2002. It was a very colurful year amongst many such years. Hindsight - does that mean looking at the deer's tail? The monster in question here is my libido I supose, or the hidden clockwork mechanism that drives one.Support the showThanks 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...
2024-11-1104 min
The Oken Stone PodcastKroovan WingsKroovan Wings is a homage to trees. In Gaelic craobh (pronounced kroov) means 'tree'. It is a celebration of two magnificent trees, an Ash and a Sycamore, that stand at the gateway to the Galloway Forest Park and at a meeting point on the Southern Upland Way below Culmark Hill. Both trees produce seeds that have wings to fly out across the landscape.This is part of a show that I am making with Oceanallover and a small sample of the music seems to have grown into the story, with the voices of Joey Sanderson and Breezy Lee, c...
2024-10-0613 min
The Oken Stone PodcastSkin PielThis is a new piece of work that I am developing with Nomoss, a dance and music collaboration based in Edinburgh. In this instance the sound is some reworked recordings that I made whilst on holiday in East Wittering some while back.The text was originally written for presentation in The Arches in Glasgow in 2008. It is a narrative given from the point of view of a drawing, a very particular drawing from a book of medical dissections published in 1672.Support the showThanks very much for listening. Art is an act of...
2024-09-1917 min
The Oken Stone PodcastA Derelict BuildingThis is a short story about getting lost in the dark. Part of the problem is that you can only get lost if you knew where you were in the first place, and the problem with darkness is knowing whether or not you have your eyes open.This story may be metaphorical, in which case it is an abstract moment, an existential crisis. Or it may be true, which could make it into a variety of horror story. But then, there is that mid point at which it could be either.Sound for the story...
2024-09-1111 min
The Oken Stone PodcastEagleHowever, a shadow moved swiftly, thrown down onto the land by a majestic golden eagle, last of its kind on the mountain. Even as the beak of the tortoise closed upon the exquisite blooms, the eagle stooped........~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~https://oceanallover.bandcamp.com/album/orographicSupport the showThanks 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...
2024-09-0803 min
The Oken Stone PodcastMan.....and even as the eagle soared above the rocky slopes, the tortoise encaged in its talons, the petals encaged in the jaws of the reptile, so a young naturalist ran forwards - last of his kind, taxidermy on his mind.............. The stricken eagle fell amongst a drift of feathers and petals, releasing the scaled misile from its grasp and joining all four together in death upon the shoulder of the mountain.ManCracked my head, in single strikeas I ran forward in earnest hasteto collect my prized, beloved birdshot...
2024-09-0802 min
The Oken Stone PodcastTortoiseOn the lower slopes a tortoise had begun its ascent. Armoured carapace, last of its kind. Hungry and smelling petals on the air......Support the showThanks 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
2024-09-0803 min
The Oken Stone PodcastFlowerUpon the Mountainside there is a flower, a most beautiful flower, last of its kind. It is opening its petals to the sky, an invitation and a celebration..........~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Go to:https://oceanallover.bandcamp.com/album/orographicand listen to the whole album.Support the showThanks 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...
2024-09-0805 min
The Oken Stone PodcastOutIn which you discover a door in your own foot, and enter through it.OutI’ll take a story from you, hillside;I’ll make something from you, something deeplike a door in your foot, a way in.There will be singing, voices raisedand the gravity of mysteries that eruptas small flowers around your shoulders.We will go up with our eyes over and over againuntil we live inside the land in our minds.You will wear clouds on cold days around your...
2024-09-0702 min
The Oken Stone PodcastSideYou continue to ascend, becoming less and less of yourself and more and more mountainous............Support the showThanks 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
2024-09-0702 min
The Oken Stone PodcastInIn which the mountain appears before you in many guises. All is what it seems it is not. You are lost until...................Support the showThanks 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
2024-09-0702 min
The Oken Stone PodcastWayYou begin to climb the mountain. Perspectives slide. You find a door..........Support the showThanks 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
2024-09-0702 min
The Oken Stone PodcastThe Oken StoneThis is an introduction to the Oken Stone Podcast, what the name means and what to expect from future episodes. I am an artist making work in a number of different disciplines, with philosophy firmly at the core of them all. Through this podcast I will share thoughts and ideas, some of them factual and many of them abstract. Support the showThanks 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 w...
2024-09-0703 min
The Oken Stone PodcastOrographicThis is a short introduction to a series of episodes that bring you a story about mountains.Companion (On the Way)On your mountain there are trailswith little indication of wherethey may lead, and even lessof who made them.The thorns and open meadowsat your feet lead the walker’s eyebut confound their souls withperspective shifts and obscured vistas.Once embarked upon this journeyI will travel through your landscapeuntil my legs cannot walk any furtherand my...
2024-09-0704 min
The Oken Stone PodcastOrographic - PreludeHere you are met by your guide. They will lead you on your journey into the mountain. You must trust them, they must trust you. Hold hands and go with them.........~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sound on this track was made by me using recordings taken in the fields, ponds and hills around where I live.Support the showThanks 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...
2024-09-0702 min
The Oken Stone PodcastThe CosmopolitanThis is a short poem that I wrote whilst building a large fire-sculpture for the Wintertide Festival in Hertlepool in November 2023. We were staying in an Inn of the same name on the Headlands near to the sight of the gun battery and the location of a temporary lighthouse that stood on the moors from 1915 and until a new one was built in 1927. I had caught a flu bug the day before and was in a semi-halucinatory state, reflecting on the singularity of that moment, and of life in general.Support the show
2024-09-0502 min