Words of Mercury

In his fourth collection from Shearsman Books, Alasdair Paterson ranges as widely as ever - from the bewilderments of a Scottish childhood to the mixed messages of later life, from gnarly nature notes to an A-Z of lines salvaged from lost Russian novels. The spirit of Mercury - bringer of messages, patron of tricksters, keeper and crosser of boundaries - hovers invisibly and a tad unreliably overhead. Critical responses:- "You can take the boy out of Leith but seemingly you can't stop him writing poems about it. Take a telling, pal!" -Leith Literary Gazette "In this latest brazen provocation, the great Russian literary tradition is alphabetically disrespected. Needless to say, there will be consequences..." -Kamchatka Hints and Tips "Here's a city boy's take on the glories of the natural world. On the evidence of this, we have to ask: Mr Paterson, did you ever stand in a field of cows with the wind in your face?" -Forfar Farmer