CASTINGS
Mandy Haggith
A new collection of poems by Mandy Haggith, whose writing reflects her love for the land and her concern for the environment - not just in the North-West Highlands where she now lives on a woodland croft, but also in her travels around the world.
Praise for Castings
‘The poetry here shows real clarity of eye marking the dialogues of nature in a place, be that place the lonely Scottish crofting area that is home, or the course of the River Kelvin through the Lowlands, or a Russian forest.’
Tom Leonard
‘Outstanding originality and quality. Impressive for its sharpness, sympathy and decisiveness...’ Alan Riach
‘There is so much to admire and enjoy in this collection: finely disciplined movement of cadence, formal and technical virtuosity, elegant economy of expression... the poetic language has a vivid and rich physicality... Vivid, witty and unusual, these poems juxtapose their carefully chosen words against the white expanses and spaces of the page.’ Andrew Radford
About Mandy Haggith
Mandy Haggith first studied Philosophy and Mathematics and then Artificial Intelligence, and spent years struggling to write elegant computer programs that could help to save the planet. A decade ago she left academia to pursue a life of writing and revolution, and has since travelled all over the world researching forests and the people dependent on them, and campaigning for their protection. In 2003, she returned to Glasgow University to study for an MPhil in Creative Writing, gaining a distinction. This is her first book-length collection of poetry. Her first novel, The Last Bear, is also published by Two Ravens Press. She lives on a woodland croft in Assynt, in the Scottish Highlands.
An extract from Castings
Summer Smells of the Sea-Flowers
honeysuckle is a geisha girl
sweeping her silk sleeve perfume
through the woods at dusk
waltzing with a sailor boy
a salt-scent swell who swings up from the shore
limber and strong
their dancing
a maritime schmaltz
tugs
clinches
and twirls
