Mariscat Press
ISBN: 9780946588817
Against the Light sets a title-sequence resonant with an affectionate awareness of the fragility and vulnerability of our lives alongside a group of poems which conjure up the distinctive moods and aspects of Edinburgh in winter.
Review
‘[The opening winter sequence] meditates on the particular coldness of Edinburgh’s heart. Conn’s writing displays a wonderful sense of bathos that incorporates the grandeur of the scenery and the frivolousness of tourism… modern Edinburgh awash with holidaymakers. In Against the Light – the superlative poem of the collection – the narrator watches his love throw away her painkillers … [while] poems like Charmed Lives, about the comic fall from grace of two collared doves, contain some wicked humour.’
– Nick Major / The National
Slugs
Slugs absolutely everywhere, our hostess tells us,
I don’t know when there was a summer like it,
the worst for years, particularly bad for my hostas,
you should see the damage they’ve done. My wife
says lucky we don’t grow them any more. Curious
to know if that makes them hostages to fortune, I bite
back the pun and sip my gin, aware of scarcely any
in our garden. Lunch served, the conversation drifts on.
Waking the following night, from our back door
I survey the scene. Dawn’s first glimmer
reveals no hint of movement, even from our
resident flurry of finches. Then my eye traces
a trellis-work of trails criss-crossing the steps
and glistening on the stonework, like a multitude
of minuscule railway-tracks converging on some
evanescent junction, silvery in the moon’s rays.
 | Stewart ConnStewart Conn has been called ‘one of Scotland’s most skilled and wide-ranging poets’. His work, with its distinctive rhythmic and lyrical qualities, has been widely published, anthologised and translated. Among its settings are the Ayrshire of his boyhood, Glasgow and Edinburgh where he has spent the bulk of his family and working life; the distinctive land and seascapes of the Scottish highlands and western isles; and regions of France and Italy. Time and again, though, its true arena is revealed as the human heart. Bearing this out is his constant probing of the fragility and interplay of our lives and affections – often illuminating these through music and works of art. His recent The Touch of Time: New & Selected Poems (Bloodaxe) has been described as ‘a welcome and substantial gathering’. Recurrent themes include his delight in daily serendipities and in rural ways, and his recognition of mortality. His love poems written in maturity can be exquisite’ (Tony Roberts/Agenda). Married with two adult sons, he lives in Edinburgh and was from 2002-2005 the capital’s inaugural laureate. He has appeared at poetry festivals here and abroad, and read on numerous occasions at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. He recently recorded a selection of work for The Poetry Archive. |
