Swithering Pa
To "swither" means to suffer indecision or doubt, but there is no faltering in these poems; any uncertainty is not in the lines or the sounds or the images, but only in the themes of flux and change and transformation that thread their way through this powerful third collection. Robin Robertson has written a book of remarkable cohesion and range that calls on his knowledge of folklore and myth to fuse the old ways with the new. From raw, exposed poems about the end of childhood to erotically...
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To "swither" means to suffer indecision or doubt, but there is no faltering in these poems; any uncertainty is not in the lines or the sounds or the images, but only in the themes of flux and change and transformation that thread their way through this powerful third collection. Robin Robertson has written a book of remarkable cohesion and range that calls on his knowledge of folklore and myth to fuse the old ways with the new. From raw, exposed poems about the end of childhood to erotically charged lyrics about the end of desire, from a brilliant retelling of the metamorphosis and death of Actaeon to the final freeing of the waters in "Holding Proteus," these are close examinations of nature—of the bright epiphanies of passion and loss.At times sombre, at times exultant, Robertson's poems are always firmly rooted in the world we see, the life we experience: original, precise, and startlingly clear.New York Review of Books"Robertson''s genius for exact and gorgeous imagery, his dazzling metaphorical gift, and the knottiness of his thinking ... runs through the syntax of the verse like a bead of Metaphysical quicksilver."John Banville
The park drunk3Trysts4At dawn5What the horses see at night6Primavera8Cusp9The eel10The death of Actaeon12Swimming in the woods18Drowning in Co. Down19Ghost of a garden20Selkie21Between the harvest and the hunter's moon22Old ways25Entry26Samhain27Still life with cardoon and carrots28Strindberg in London29The glair31Strindberg in Paris32Heel of bread33Entropy34Sea-fret35Myth40New York spring43The lake at dusk44A seagull murmur46Calcutta, Co. Armagh47Mar-hawk48The catch49Actaeon : the early years50To my daughters, asleep55Firesetting56Siesta57La stanza delle Mosche58Lizard59Ode to conger-eel broth60Asparagus63On Pharos64Manifest65Untitled (51)66Net68Crossing the archipelago70Bow71Rainmaker72The custom-house73Leavings74Donegal75Trumpeter swan76Answers77Holding Proteus78
\ New York Review of Books"Robertson''s genius for exact and gorgeous imagery, his dazzling metaphorical gift, and the knottiness of his thinking ... runs through the syntax of the verse like a bead of Metaphysical quicksilver."\ John Banville\ \
