Unshackled

In this fine first collection of lyric poetry, Goldie explores the contrast between the urban experience – the ravages of post-industrial economic decline, and the liberating, rugged landscapes of Scotland, with a range of precise imagery and deft phrasing that examines the complexities of both, and the relationship between them.

We also glimpse tender family vignettes, which are all the more moving for being set against this wider historical backdrop.

Rhythm is deployed with great skill, and underscores time’s relentless onward movement in Conachair (‘Saint Kilda’s screaming cliffs and stacks,’) and in Sligrachan (‘the screams of ghosts from empty yards/through the pulsing heart of that great city’)

A very impressive debut indeed.

(A Breckenridge, poet)