The Archive

Hugh McMillan

Hugh Mcmillan is a poet who hails from Dumfries and Galloway. He has written five full-length collections of poetry, of which the latest is Heliopolis (Luath Press, £9.99). As the titles suggests, Mcmillan has an interest in Hellenic culture which is reflected in the poems in the collection. The collection doesn’t stay in Greece,however, and other destinations include his native Dumfries and Galloway, St Petersburg and Mars. In ‘The Archive’ the journey is into the past.

I think that death is like corridors you half remember from school, the sun diffused on paint and panel like a dream. Here you watched a pretty girl by a cherry tree, here you stumbled down a stair, here are doors closing now like eyes, pass them by. Down around this corner is the last tender archive of the mind where on this hot afternoon you must turn off the lights.

You can find a copy of Heliopolis by Hugh Mcmillan at the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Edinburgh EH8 8DT. For poetry enquiries, e-mail reception@spl.org.uk or visit www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk.