A stunning new collection of selected works from one of Scotland's most loved writers. During her career Liz Lochhead has been described variously as a poet, feminist playwright, translator and broadcaster but has said that "when somebody asks me what I do I usually say writer. The most precious thing to me is to be a poet. If I were a playwright, I'd like to be a poet in the theatre." Liz Lochhead has a large and devoted audience and delights audiences where she goes.
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[Darling, tonight I want to celebrate / not your birthday, no, not mine]***
(Birlinn Ltd, 1 September 2011, owned)
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A Choosing is a thoroughly enjoyable collection of poems.
I haven't read a lot of these poems before so it was a delight to discover them for the first time. I was pleased to note that some of my favourite poets by the author are also included, especially some from her amazing collection Dreaming Frankenstein.
Lochhead is an amazing poet. Many of the poems in this collection are long and quite narrative without being thinly disguised prose. It can be hard to write narrative poetry without it appearing to be a short story forced into the shape of a poem. Lochhead manages this effortlessly.
Some of my favourite poems were My Rival's House, Midsummer Night, What the Pool Said on Midsummer's Day, Dreaming Frankenstein, Smirnoff for Karloff and An Abortion.
