In this vibrant new collection, Valerie Gillies takes us on a journey across Scotland, exploring the inhabited landscape and the wild places. Locality presides as a powerful motif in a rich world of animals, birds, trees, and legendary beings such as the banshee and the Stone Woman of Craigencallie. Gilliesīs verse, sustained by its precision of language and its depth of resonance, flourishes in an exuberance of poetic forms, from lyric to ballad, from sonnet to haiku. Central to the book is the story of the Lightning Tree, an oak in Sutherland struck by lightning. The following spring it recovers and four acorns grow as the tree revives. Gilliesīs poetry -with its focus on nature and the harshness of rural life today -gives a rare insight into survival and recovery, into love and legend.
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About the Author:
Valerie Gillies has published six collections of poetry and won several awards and was recently shortlisted for the Scottish Arts Council "Creative Scotland Awards."
Review:
'A distinctive voice in British poetry.' --The Herald
"This is the most visual poetry, with a clear sharp love of surface detail.... it is the imagery, serviced by quiet sound, which lingers longest in the mind.' --Ian Stephen
'From the most violent instincts and frenzied motion, her tone distils a curious impress of stillness and mystery.' --The Scotsman
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- PublisherPolygon
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 0748663266
- ISBN 13 9780748663262
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages96