Now that I’m enjoying a brief work hiatus (book submission made yesterday, drum-roll please) I’m hoping to catch up on my reading. This morning I picked up Hill of Doors (Picador), Robin Robertson’s T S Eliot award-nominated collection, and was reminded of how much I enjoyed my first brief meander through when it was given to me by poet friend Antony.
There are two threads of poems running through the book, and ‘The Fishermen’s Farewell’ comes from the Scotland/memories thread. From the title you might expect something whimsical or ballad-like, an elegy for a lost way of life. For me, the poem has a mysterious beauty and a music about it, but the picture it paints is far from sentimental.