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[Dòmhnall] Meg Bateman - òraidiche, feallsanaiche ’s tè de phrìomh bhàird Ghàidhlig ar latha. Meg, fàilte mhòr ort.

[Meg] Mòran taing.

[Dòmhnall] Gu dearbha. Bana-bhàrd. ’S e sin a th’ aig cridhe do bheatha cho fad ’s a tha luchd-amhairc a’ phrògraim-sa air an gabhail a-steach. ’S e bàrd a th’ annad gu poblach. An e sin an rud as cudromaiche na do bheatha?

[Meg] Uill bidh bàrdachd a’ tighinn ormsa ’s a’ falbh ’s bidh mìosan a’ dol seachad ’s nach bi mi a’ dol faisg oirre. Gu math tric bidh mi trang a’ teagaisg. Gach turas a thig mi a-staigh air an doras bidh mi a’ feuchainn gun a bhith a’ seasamh ann am mionach luchagan a bhios na cait air fhàgail, so tha tòrr a bharrachd na bàrdachd na mo bheatha ach tha mi cinnteach gur e pàirt chudromach a th’ ann dhi a dh’aindeoin sin.

[Dòmhnall] Leugh mi am bateigin thu ag ràdh gur e “safety valve” a bh’ ann ann am bàrdachd dhut.

[Meg] Tha mi an dùil gun robh mi a’ ciallachadh gun robh cothrom agam a bhith cruthachail na “safety valve”. Bha mi riamh ag iarraidh a’ chothrom sin agus saoilidh mi aig amannan na mo bheatha nuair a tha mi air a bhith a’ faireachdainn rudeigin ìosal ’s ann nuair nach robh cothrom agam a bhith cruthachail. ’S nuair a bha mi na mo dheugaire bha mi a’ faighinn leasanan piàno ’s bha mi gu mòr airson a bhith math air a’ phiàno a chionn ’s gu bheil ceòl a’ cur gach rud an cèill dhut. Cha leig thu leas cànan a chleachdadh agus tha mi an dùil gur e ceòl clasaigeach a tha mi fhathast a’ coimhead air mar an rud as motha a chuireas faireachdainnean an cèill agus bu toigh leam gu mòr a bhith ceòlmhor agus bha mi gu math duilich nuair a bha mi òg nach robh mi math air a’ phiàno. ’S mar sin nuair a ...

[Dòmhnall] Lìon bàrdachd a’ bheàrn a tha sin ann an dòigh, an do lìon?

[Meg] Agus tha rudan eile air a lìonadh. Bidh mi a’ peantadh ’s bidh mi fhathast a’ feuchainn ri ceòl.

[Dòmhnall] Seadh, ach ann a bhith ag ràdh sin ge-tà tha e follaiseach na do bhàrdachd gu bheil fulangas na do bheatha fhèin, nad eachdraidh ’s diofar rudan a’ tighinn a-mach ann an sin ’s tillidh sinn gu bhith a’ bruidhinn air sin. Tha cuimhne a’m bha mi eòlach ort nuair a bha mi ann an Oilthigh Obar Dheathain ’s bha thusa an uair sin a’ dèanamh PhD anns an oilthigh. Tha cuimhne a’m sinn a bhith a’ bruidhinn air bàrdachd turas agus mise ag ràdh riut nach b’ urrainn dhomhsa bàrdachd a sgrìobhadh ’s tha cuimhne a’m thu ag ràdh rium “cha do dh’fhuiling thu gu leòr fhathast, a Dhòmhnaill”.

[Meg] Tha mi an dòchas nach eil fhathast!

[Dòmhnall] An e fulangas …?

[Meg] A bheil thu ri bàrdachd fhathast?

[Dòmhnall] Chan eil! Chan eil. Tha mi air fuiling beagan ach chan eil mi ri bàrdachd idir. An e fulangas, bha Màiri Mhòr, nach robh Màiri Mhòr ag ràdh rudeigin mu dheidhinn gur e fulangas a thug a bàrdachd beò?

[Meg] Ò bha.

[Dòmhnall] “'S e na dh'fhuiling mi de thàmailt, A thug mo bhàrdachd beò”.

[Meg] Tha sin ceart.

[Dòmhnall] A bheil tomhas fìrinn an sin?

[Meg] Dhomhsa b’ e. ’S e cothrom a bhith agam a bhith a’ bruidhinn mu dheidhinn rudan ann am bàrdachd nach b’ urrainn dhomh a bhith a’ bruidhinn mu dheidhinn os-àrd a chur gu bàrdachd mi agus saoilidh mi gur e eisimpleir Shomhairle a sheall gum b’ urrainn dhut a bhith a’ cur fulangas an cèill gun a bhith a’ faighinn fuasgladh. Gur e sin rud eile a chur gu bàrdachd mi.

Chaidh am prògram seo, Thuige Seo, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2011.

[Donald] Meg Bateman - lecturer, philosopher and one of the leading Gaelic poets of our time. Meg, a warm welcome to you.

[Meg] Many thanks.

[Donald] Indeed. A female poet. That is what is at the heart of your soul as far as this programme’s audience is concerned. You are publicly a poet. Is that the most important thing in your life?

[Meg] Well poetry comes and goes for me and months pass and I won’t go near it. Quite often I am busy teaching. Every time I come in the door I try not to stand in mice guts that the cats have left, so there is a lot more than poetry in my life but I am sure that it is an important part of it in spite of that.

[Donald] I read somewhere you saying that poetry was a “safety valve” for you.

[Meg] I expect that I meant that my opportunity to be creative was a “safety valve”. I always wanted that opportunity and I think at times in my life when I have been feeling somewhat low it was when I didn’t have an opportunity to be creative. And when I was a teenager I took piano lessons and I really wanted to be good at the piano because you can express yourself through music. You don’t need to use language and I think that it is classical music that I still look to as the greatest things for expressing feelings and I would really like to be musical and I was very sad when I was young that I wasn’t good at the piano. And therefore when ...

[Donald] Poetry filled that void in a way, did it?

[Meg] And other things have filled it. I paint and I still attempt music.

[Donald] Yes, but in saying that though it is clear through your poetry that there is suffering in your life, in your past and different things come out there and we will return to speak about that. I remember that I knew you when I was at Aberdeen University and you were at that time doing a PhD at the university. I remember us speaking about poetry once and me saying to you that I couldn’t write poetry and I remember you saying to me “you haven’t suffered enough yet, Donald”.

[Meg] I hope that you still haven’t!

[Donald] Is suffering …?

[Meg] Have you written any poetry yet?

[Donald] I don’t! I don’t. I have suffered a little but I don’t write poetry at all. Was it suffering, Màiri Mhòr (Mary MacPherson, renowned Gaelic poetry), didn’t Màiri Mhòr say something about it being suffering that made her poetry come alive?

[Meg] Oh yes.

[Dòmhnall] “it was suffering through distress which brought my poetry alive”.

[Meg] That is correct.

[Donald] Is there a measure of truth there?

[Meg] For me there was. What drove me to poetry was an opportunity for me to talk about things in poetry which I couldn’t openly discuss and I think that it was, for example of Sorley (MacLean) who showed that you could express suffering without receiving a resolution. That is something else that drove me to poetry.

This programme, Thuige Seo, was first broadcast in 2011.