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All the titles reviewed here can be found on the backlist
and new
titles pages.
On Donald Murray's 'Between Minch and Muckle
Flugga
Anyone interested in island life and the sea will enjoy this
collection. Donald Murray has opted for a unity of subject-matter and
also, to some extent, theme, in this volume. The result is a
fascinating series of poems, each exploring a different aspect of what
lies Between Minch and Muckle Flugga.
A glance at the titles shows the poet's comprehensiveness and
attention to detail: 'Fish Factory Girl',
'Gutting-Knife', 'Lerwick Pier,
1913', 'Harvest of Whales',
'Lewis Seamen, 1963', 'Teenage
Harbour', 'Sea Speech', 'Spaces
for the Shipwrecked', for example. But this doesn't
tell the whole story. There are poems which act as vivid recreations of
a certain time or a particular event, but they rarely stick there: most
go well beyond the factual-sounding title. In 'Following His
Vocation', for example, a Lighthouse keeper's
crisis of faith is really an exploration of the psychological
consequences of religious extremism. Likewise, in 'The Girl
Who Taught the Fisherman to Read', a generally light-hearted
poem based on an amusing conceit, there are darker reminders of the
dangers of fishing: '...when a dark storm swayed the
world/ swirling till a rockpool was disturbed/ by a
corpse...' and gentle warnings about what may happen
when the 'drag and swell of words' is
'cut loose'.
The hardships involved in making a living from the sea, both past and
present, feature in several poems. Donald Murray writes from genuine
understanding and with informed affinity here: there is no easy
romanticism, nor any forced bravado in his treatment of the subject...
- The New Shetlander
Donald S. Murray is an exceptionally good poet. The
measure of this, is that, while he found his voice early, he has
continued to develop and improve without altering its essential timbre.
The latest collection
is marginally - just marginally - more colloquial than his earlier
work. At times he appears to be about to become as conversational as
Larkin - ''The old ones would have damned them for their cheek ..." -
before withdrawing slyly.
There are two and possibly three poems in this
collection which will probably outlive us. 'Lewis Seamen, 1963' says
more in 16 lines about the Northern Irish troubles than a library of
analysis - which is after all part of the point of poetry. And the
constrained beauty of 'The Girl Who Taught The Fisherman To Read' is
worth the cover price alone.
- Roger Hutchinson, West Highland Free Press
On Colin Donati's "Rock is Water":
"Donati's collection seems like some kind of Zen Calvinism, where you
can stumble upon a revelation like 'Space Invader' in which Biblical
text meets Atari graphics circa 1983, or the prose-poem 'The
Interference Structure of Memory', in which wholly new methods of
expression are introduced. Quotation would be obsolete: these are poems
you have to read in their entirety. Donati is a poet bigger publishers
should snap up." Scotland on Sunday.
"Rock is Water is an antidote to the usual mundane concerns of Western
life. This terrific booklet, which Donati has designed and illustrated
himself, is the latest work off the marvellous Kettillonia conveyor
belt of poetic talent... I can't help thinking that Donati is a poet
who is nurturing something outstanding within him. Rock is Water is an
early indication of much more to come." [The Eildon Tree]
On Helena Nelson's "Mr and Mrs Philpott on Holiday at
Auchterawe and other Poems"
"The Poems here, in their variety of form and content, their unflashy
technical adroitness, humour, tenderness and truth are consistently
entertaining and often quietly moving ... Get hold of this thoroughly
enjoyable little book. I don't think you will be dissapointed." [Vernon
Scannell in Ambit]
On James Robertson's "Stirling Sonnets"
"At a time when the poetry equivalent of the corporate bigs boys are
playing it safer than ever it's a genuine cause for rejoicing that
small presses in Scoland can produce work of this quality. Kettillonia
Press has been producing superb little pamphlets for some time but none
are better than this." [North Words]
On Muriel Stuart's "In the Orchard":
"Stuart was not afraid to proclaim herself as a woman entitled both to
love and affection from men and to her independence. But nor is she
afraid to expose her wounded heart . . . Her directness, and her theme
of relations between men and women, also give these poems a much more
contemporary feel than might be imagined." [Scottish Book Collector]
"The poems are elegant and pointed...This is an
unexpected gem which I hope initiates new interest in Stuart's lively
work." [Chapman]
"There are perfect poems in this selection, most of
them also have flaws - lines, and sometimes syntax, that don't quite
work. However, it is easy to forgive Muriel Stuart for that,
because she's so dynamically experimental. Her reach sometimes exceeds
her metrical grasp, but then so it should, or what's Parnassus for?"
[Helena Nelson, in The Dark Horse]
On Andrew McNeil's "Temples Fae Creels":
"In Temples Fae Creels the metaphysical meets the
colloquial in what could almost be subtitled a Miracle fae the East
Neuk. The marriage of Andrew McNeil's Fife dialect and his elegiac,
compassionate pictures of the fishing communities are an outstanding
success. His language is spare and clipped - you can feel the
nip of the wind and the salt." [Scottish Book Collector]
"Andrew McNeil's poems have the comfortable feel of
returning home after a long day's slog to slip into a warm bath with a
whisky. His Scots is simple but resonant... He roams Fife catching
glimpses of beauty in outdoor swimming pools, wedding scrambles, and
children on the beach . . . An invigorating read" [Chapman]
On Ellie McDonald's "Pathfinder":
"Ellie McDonald's well-tuned Scots poems . . . are
witty and full of fire." [Chapman]
On Ian McDonough's "A Rising Fever":
"Ian McDonough's pamphlet-length poem reveals the mind's meanderings
under a high temperature. Through his precision of language the reader
is aware of the speaker's surroundings: noises from adjoining flats,
the weather, but also of internal contemplations. Fine work from a
strong poet." [Chapman]
On Angus's Calder's "Horace in Tollcross":
"Highly lucid and humorous . . . full of bracing poetic moments."
[Chapman] "[Calder's] sequence of updatings of Odes by Horace is
delightful and clever - and very, very funny. On several occasions I
laughed out loud in the reading, and I keep going back and laughing
again... The lightness about the whole collection has nothing to do
with superficiality and everything to do with delicacy. Make no mistake
- there is some elegant writing here and the bardie is no maut-heid."
[Helena Nelson, The Dark Horse] "It is customary, in reviews
these days, to find fault with something in the work under scrutiny,
just to demonstrate the perceptive insight of the reviewer. I find no
weakness in Calder." [Helena Nelson, The Dark Horse]
On James Robertson's "I Dream of Alfred
Hitchcock":
"Even those not familiar with Hitchcock will enjoy Robertson's ability
to set a scene and the intrigue of his phrasing." [Chapman]
On Sair Heid City:
"O ony wrytin Scots the day, this maun be the name ti watch - a
byordnar talent, an nae mistake... Gin whit's in the pamphlet stauns as
a proper saimple, the publisher at haes the saul, the fecht an the
gumption tae tak on [the haill novel] 'll gie the Scots leid the
grittest upheeze it's haed sen the 'Drunk Man'." [Colin Donati, Lallans]
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