Liz Lochhead's new collection encompasses a life enriched with people, places and relationships; it is with humour and empathy that these relationships are captured, remembered and honoured in moments of joy and poignancy. There is sadness, truth, hope and optimism throughout the five sections in this collection, and each is varied in scope but are woven together as part of a life. This stunning new collection marks the end of Liz Lochhead's term as Makar (Poet Laureate, 2011-2016) and features never before published work alongside poems written during her time as Makar. Throughout her career Liz Lochhead has been described as a poet, playwright, translator and broadcaster; she maintains that 'when somebody asks me what I do I usually say writer. The most precious thing to me is to be a poet. As a playwright, I'd like to be known as a poet in the theatre.' Fugitive Colours is a brilliant, masterful collection.
From Favourite Place
We would be snaking up Loch Lomond, the
road narrow and winding after the turn at Tarbet,
and we'd be bending branches as we slid
through the green and dripping overhang of the trees.
I thought Fugitive Colours was amazing. The poems in this collection are quite intense and narrative which is not all that common in contemporary poetry where less is often seen as more. Lochhead is one of the few poets who can pull of narrative poetry and she does this over and over in this collection. Fugitive Colours is not what I was expecting as the style of the poems is very different from other work I've read by her. It was a joy to find some many new ways to appreciate one of my favourite poets. The collection is split into different theme sections. My favourite section was the first one, Love and Grief, Elegies and Promises. Highlights include the gun-wrenching opening poem, Favourite Place as well as Persimmons, A Handselling, 2006 and Lavender's Blue. I loved this collection of poems and would highly recommend it.
