that which appears

that which appears gathers together four book-length sequences; The Hundred Thousand Places, Yellow & Blue and Farm by the Shore, all previously published by Carcanet, plus the title book, that which appears, published by Paragon Press (1994). The poems gathered in that which appears emerge from a practice of walking in the varied landscapes of the highlands and islands of Scotland. They attempt to attend and respond to the evidence, to 'snow on moss on stone', with 'small continual adjustments'. A conviction grows that environmental damage can only begin to be repaired by many careful and repeated acts of attention. How can we move here with resourcefulness and least intrusion? Can poetry be generous in response while subject to an ethic of care for place and particularity? Can it provide spaces that will allow for, that welcome and celebrate, that which appears?