Castings is a collection of poems reflecting love of the land and concern for the environment. Some are set near the poet's home in the North West Highlands of Scotland, some are about the Kelvin River, which runs through Glasgow, and some are the result of global travels, to Africa, Russia, Asia and the Americas.
'The poetry here shows real clarity of eye marking the dialogues of nature in a place, be that place the lonely Scottish crofting area that is home, or the cource of the river Kelvin through the Lowlands, or a Russian forest. The sequence on the river Kelvin is itself a wholly fresh and valuable addition to the literature of the Glasgow region.' Tom Leonard.
'Outstanding originality and quality. Impressive for its sharpness, sympathy and decisiveness... this poetry is in a constellation with work by Robert Lax, Thomas A Clark and a few others. It works, illuminating, and I'm grateful to have read it.' Alan Riach.
'There is so much to admire and enjoy in this collection: finely disciplined movement of cadence, formal and technical virtuosity, elegant economy of expression... the poetic language has a vivid and rich physicality, helping us discover a resonance in the passing moment, or the passed-over figure; words strike sparks off each other.. Vivid, witty and unusual, these poems juxtapose their carefully chosen yet spontaneous-seeming words against the white expanses and spaces of the page.'
'The poetry here shows real clarity of eye marking the dialogues of nature in a place, be that place the lonely Scottish crofting area that is home, or the cource of the river Kelvin through the Lowlands, or a Russian forest. The sequence on the river Kelvin is itself a wholly fresh and valuable addition to the literature of the Glasgow region.' Tom Leonard.
'Outstanding originality and quality. Impressive for its sharpness, sympathy and decisiveness... this poetry is in a constellation with work by Robert Lax, Thomas A Clark and a few others. It works, illuminating, and I'm grateful to have read it.' Alan Riach.
'There is so much to admire and enjoy in this collection: finely disciplined movement of cadence, formal and technical virtuosity, elegant economy of expression... the poetic language has a vivid and rich physicality, helping us discover a resonance in the passing moment, or the passed-over figure; words strike sparks off each other.. Vivid, witty and unusual, these poems juxtapose their carefully chosen yet spontaneous-seeming words against the white expanses and spaces of the page.'
Used availability for Mandy Haggith's Castings