Catching my eye

Byhazelbuchancameron

Catching my eye’ by Hazel Buchan Cameron is a rare poem in that it manages to surprise line-by-line – no mean feat when the first stanza begins with a car crash. You can find it in a new anthology

Forty Voices Strong (Grayson Books), a collection of contemporary Scottish poems chosen by an American editor, Patrick Moran, and published in the United States. Moran and a selection of poets featured in the collection (Yowann Byghan, Lesley Harrison, Leonie Mhari, George Gunn, Gordon Jarvie and Jean Taylor) will be present at the UK launch of the book at the Scottish Poetry Library on 28 March.

How do I explain to the farmer whose wall I’ve just crashed through that it was his lamb with the pure black face that caught my eye, as I thought of a friend about to die.

Sitting amongst the accident debris, I watch the lamb leap under its mother. Then – through the rear view mirror a rainbow stretches across the valley. I recall that if viewed from on high it can make a complete, glorious eye.

You can find a copy of Forty Voices Strong edited by Patrick Moran 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