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    A to B
    A to B
    A to B
    Ebook91 pages23 minutes

    A to B

    By Gerry McGrath

    ()

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    About this ebook

    What began as a single poem written on a long drive into the countryside north of Glasgow has evolved into an imaginative collection exploring memory, journey, vulnerability, and love. This book of haunting verse ranges in theme, with observations on everything from a plane's ascent into the evening sky to imagined piano notes being absorbed by the earth. The beauty of Scotland combines with a sense of human fragility as the poems examine the relationship of an old Spanish exile and his wife, the memory of a father's voice, and much more.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCarcanet Press Ltd.
    Release dateAug 21, 2008
    ISBN9781847777997
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      Book preview

      A to B - Gerry McGrath

      GERRY McGRATH

      A to B

      For Kate

      How short became the road

      That seemed the longest.

      Anna Akhmatova

      Acknowledgements

      I would like to express my gratitude to:

      The Scottish Arts Council and National Library of Scotland who enabled me to spend two months at the Hotel Chevillon, Grez-sur-Loing, in November 2004 and April 2005 as a Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Fellow.

      Margareta Persson.

      Donal McLaughlin.

      David Kinloch.

      Mme Bernadette Plissart.

      Adam Fleck.

      Contents

      Title Page

      Dedication

      Epigraph

      Acknowledgements

      I

      Higher

      No End of Exile

      Magpie

      Steady

      Sycamores

      Weight

      A Question

      Sleep Alights

      Baby Spuds

      Early Flowers

      Overnight

      In No Time

      Only Life

      A Man Unable

      II

      Pointing North

      The Colour of Water

      Dry Flood

      Phenomenon

      True Air

      Midsummer

      Busy

      Secrets

      Old Masters

      Gift

      Limits

      Whispers

      Anstruther

      Dead House

      Same Bird

      Shape of a Chair

      Anklet

      No Forgetting

      Still

      Particles

      Soft Tissue

      Among the Blue

      Calling

      Baci

      The Language of Pines

      The Water, the Shore

      Invisible

      Brief Season

      Watching Primrose

      Dishwater

      A Sense of Occasion

      Promise

      III

      The Middle Distance

      Small Fires

      A Milky Sunlight

      Two Friends

      Mint Tea

      Blue Light

      Basics

      Morning

      Forest Path

      Bright Walkway

      The Painter

      Island

      Currency

      Yellow Ticket

      First Detail

      Introductions

      A to B

      Powder Blue

      Imaginable Longing

      Small Hand

      First Love

      Lately

      Tilleul

      Around the Edge

      Cities

      White Rain

      In Loving Memory

      Younger

      Green Shallows

      About the Author

      Copyright

      I

      Higher

      So, this evening ends on a palette

      of leaves, flushed lilac sky, bramble

      punnet dwindling to a shadow of itself

      in the darkening heat

      while above the city

      the forgetful droning of a pencil-thin

      aircraft climbing higher and higher

      drains away all resistance.

      No End of Exile

      In a house

      on the outskirts

      of Perpignan

      at a funny angle

      to the rest of Spain

      the man who never was

      a Spanish Republican

      sits in full view

      of the old country.

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