Alice Oswald

Ian Duhig

Vahni Capildeo

Melissa Lee-Houghton

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Forward Book of Poetry 2017

Gavin

Mostly bad. 

I adore Harry Giles though; his big one here, 'Brave', is a roaring, bouncing 
  Orlando Furioso
 schtick with more point and more verbal invention than the rest summed up, paist-apocalptic RPGs and all:

  Acause incomer will ayeways be a clarty wird
acause this tongue A gabber wi will nivver be the real Mackay, A sing
Acause fer aw that we’re aw Jock Tamson’s etcetera, are we tho? Eh? Are we.
Acause o muntains, castles, tenements n backlans,
acause o whisky exports, acause o airports,
acause o islans, A sing.
acause of pubs whit arena daein sae weel oot o the smokin ban, A sing.
a cause hit's grand tae sit wi a lexicon n a deeskit mynd, A sing.
acause o the pish in the stair, A sing.
acause o ye,
A sing o a Scotland whit wadna ken working class authenticity gin hit cam reelin aff an ile rig douned six pints n glasst hit in the cunt.
 whit hit wadna by the way.
A sing o a google Scotlando laptop Scotland 
o a Scotland saw dowf on bit-torrentit HBO
drama series n DLC packs fer paistapocalyptic RPGs that hit wadna ken 
 hits gowk fae its gadjie,
fae whas lips n fingers amazebawz cams
mair freely as bangin....
A sing o a Scotland bidin in real dreid o wan day findin oot
juist hou parochial aw hits cultural references mey be,
n cin only cope wi the intertextuality o the Scots
Renaissance wi whappin annotatit editions,
n weens hits the same wi awbdy else. I sing o a Scotland whit’ll chant hits hairt oot dounstairs o the Royal Oak, whit’ll pouk hits timmer clarsach hairtstrangs, whit like glamour will sing hits hairt intae existence, whit haps sang aroon hits bluidy nieve hairt,
whit sings.
  




The eventual winner, Tiphanie Yanique, is particularly glib: she wins for a series glorifying gratuitous insensitivity.


[Data #1, Values #3]

Forward Book of Poetry 2017

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