Transparencies
Published by Birlinn Limited
“A strong collection showing a highly skilled poet on top of her craft, using language and imagery in a sensitive but candid way.” —Brian McCabe
Vividly evoking the landscape of Scotland, particularly the brooding presences of the Scottish islands and Sutherland, these poems also touch on personal love and loss—combining nature with human themes in a collection that is both intimate and celebratory. Presented in English and Gaelic, the poems build on Meg Bateman’s established flair for uniting intense emotion and feeling with a classic, restrained control and structure that harkens back to Gaelic song-poetry and the beauty in a poem’s inevitability.
“The poems have the strength and simplicity of art made for a community rather than an elite, though they are far from artless.” —The Guardian
“The end result of this beautifully constructed and paced collection is a universal evocation of commonalities fused by human consideration . . . The title Transparencies hints at ephemeral moments caught. The poet suggests she aspires to a ‘palimpsest’ of emotions recalled and now renewed upon the page. She succeeds.” —The Herald
“Meg Bateman’s embrace of Gaelic has awakened her poetry to a noble passionate candor rare in today’s over-ironical English.” —Les Murray
Vividly evoking the landscape of Scotland, particularly the brooding presences of the Scottish islands and Sutherland, these poems also touch on personal love and loss—combining nature with human themes in a collection that is both intimate and celebratory. Presented in English and Gaelic, the poems build on Meg Bateman’s established flair for uniting intense emotion and feeling with a classic, restrained control and structure that harkens back to Gaelic song-poetry and the beauty in a poem’s inevitability.
“The poems have the strength and simplicity of art made for a community rather than an elite, though they are far from artless.” —The Guardian
“The end result of this beautifully constructed and paced collection is a universal evocation of commonalities fused by human consideration . . . The title Transparencies hints at ephemeral moments caught. The poet suggests she aspires to a ‘palimpsest’ of emotions recalled and now renewed upon the page. She succeeds.” —The Herald
“Meg Bateman’s embrace of Gaelic has awakened her poetry to a noble passionate candor rare in today’s over-ironical English.” —Les Murray
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