Description
Book SynopsisSo Glad I'm Me was Roddy Lumsden's tenth collection, and sadly turned out to be the last book he published. In these haunting poems he returned to familiar themes in his work: the trials of oneness versus twoness, the seduction of small calamities, and vice versa. And the everyday mysteries, of running water, salt and sugar, roller-skates and back-up flats. So Glad I'm Me also contains many 'conflation poems' where he has knocked the square peg of one subject through the round hole of another, often music-related. There are poems here about many songs and musicians, ranging from cult artists like Alex Chilton and Robin Holcomb to big names like Elvis and Morrissey. As ever, he relishes unusual words (nestlecock, twofer, farnesol) and interesting, taut forms, alongside a new strand of mid-length, discursive pieces in the spirit of Chicagoan poets Albert Goldbarth and Marianne Boruch. So Glad I'm Me was shortlisted for both the T.S. Eliot Prize 2017 and the Saltire Society Scottish Poetry Book of the Year Award 2018.
Trade ReviewThis is poetry as an extreme sport, a whole world of shifting ideas with people – dead and alive – dropping in, whispering in your ear, or just walking right through, bold as brass. With such courage, beauty and complexity, it’s no surprise that this, Lumsden’s tenth collection, was shortlisted title for the 2017 T. S. Eliot Poetry Prize. -- Alison Craig * The Bottle Imp *
Soul-bearing, heartfelt work that demands serious attention... -- Tristram Fane Saunders * The Daily Telegraph [on So Glad I'm Me] *
