We are perfect but the world is not

From Arthur’s Seat (Egg Box Publishing, £9.99) is a collection of work by this year’s graduating class of Creative Writing students at the University of Edinburgh. The contributors come from around the globe – India, Cuba, Finland, the Netherlands, China – and the work is as varied too. Rachel Rankin’s poem ‘We are perfect but the world is not’, with its flashes of Norwegian, fits in well with this cosmopolitan company. It will be interesting to see what these young writers do next, and how studying in Scotland affects their future projects.

and with that one note we are on top of Oslo Operahus, tiles as white as a dentist’s teeth

and we are running through Vigelandsparken met by stony stares we cast off like children

and we are scoffing supermarket solskinnsboller devouring ferdigpizza and savouring smågodt

and we are taking the train up to Holmenkollen spotting trolls on mountains beside painted houses

and we are paying a fortune for Hansa before collapsing in bed in a Tøyen hotel

and as we lie there exhausted, the radio on, we kiss and we sing but all the wrong words –

Vi er perfekt, men verden er ikke det You can find a copy of From Arthur’s Seat 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.