Description
Book SynopsisWinner of an Eric Gregory Award, 2020
Winner of a Somerset Maugham Award, 2020
‘The old Shetland fishermen still speak with something like reverence of the forgotten art of steering by the moder dy (mother wave), the name given to an underswell which it is said always travels in the direction of home’
Written in English, interspersed with Shetlandic dialect throughout, this eagerly awaited debut collection from Shetland poet Roseanne Watt contains profound, assured and wilfully spare poems that are built from the sight, sound and heartbeat of the land as much as from the sea. In rigorously controlled, concise, and vivid language Watt offers glimpses of the landscape alongside which we find the most complex and mysterious of human experiences.
Trade Review'Moder Dy refers to an undercurrent believed to run east from Foula, taking Shetland fishermen back home. No islander today would know how to “read” the sea surgace in order to latch onto it, and despite the testimony of past generations of fisherfolk there is no conclusive scientific proof that it exists. As a metaphor for the impulse behind Watt’s poetry, though – a half-remembered undercurrent pulling one back home – it’s just about perfect'
-- David Robinson * Scotsman Sessions *
'Watt’s poetry has a strength, suppleness and economy that Morgan himself would have welcomed. It has the rich sparseness of haiku'
* The Bottle Imp (Best Scottish Books, 2019) *
'Held me in thrall. Watt writes in English and in Shetlandic dialect, providing her own translations of the latter, bringing levity and precision to both'
-- Gavin Francis * The New Statesman *
'An atmospheric offering from the Northern Isles'
* Herald Poem of the Day *
‘Not only are wildlife and landscape, weather and ocean treated with a buoyant sensibility, but there is an emotional sensitivity too’
* The Wee Review *
'This collection of work – bold, compassionate, life-affirming – underlines Watt’s role as one of the most significant young voices not just in Shetland but in Scotland at large. … This bonny book has never been far from by hand since I acquired it… I should probably order another cover now'
* Shetland Times *
'Extraordinarily intricate and multi-layered. An exercise in linguistic navigation. Unputdownable'
-- Roger Cox * Yorkshire Post *
'I really can't overstate just how damn good I think this collection is, how rich it is, or how much I want everybody I know to read it. I am absolutely in awe of what Roseanne Watt has done here, hers is a voice to follow'
-- Haley Anderton * Desperate Reader blog *
'This is a celebration of language, place, and the mystery of being alive'
-- Janice Galloway
'A shimmering, unforgettable collection'
-- John Glenday
'an incredible work of poetics, social history, and translation, …all happening before our eyes'
* Paris Review *
'this collection is beautiful and profound from start to finish and explores the land, heart and soul of Roseanne’s home, Shetland'
* Boom Saloon *
'Her smouldering, susurrus tones ensure these poems crackle into the ears like the best sounding bonfires'
-- Michael Pedersen * Electric Literature *
