A Murder Witness

Shug Hanlan was first published in the 1990s in the pages of Rebel Inc magazine and, alongside Irvine Welsh, Ali Smith and Alan Warner, in the era- defining anthology Ahead of Its Time. He now has a new collection of poetry spanning his entire career, The Look- Out Man ( Kerfuffle Press, £ 6.99), from which A Murder Witness is taken. Hailing from Falkirk, Hanlan is inspired by his home town’s madder moments and he delights in surreal yet deadpan juxtapositions, making him the inheritor of the late Ivor Cutler’s mantle.

Brady wiz hit across the heid wae a golf club or if it wiznae the heid it wiz the tap of the back.

The upper half of the body definitely.

Metal woods, golfers call them, coz the end bits made of metal no wood.

A metal wood, swung one handed. The left hand there wurnae a great deal of force in it.

It could have been onaybody. They’re aw keen golfers ah ken it’s a big hobby in that scheme.

You can find a copy of The Look- Out Man by Shug Hanlan 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