This image is the cover for the book Transparencies

Transparencies

“A strong collection showing a highly skilled poet on top of her craft, using language and imagery in a sensitive but candid way.” —Brian McCabe

Vividly evoking the landscape of Scotland, particularly the brooding presences of the Scottish islands and Sutherland, these poems also touch on personal love and loss—combining nature with human themes in a collection that is both intimate and celebratory. Presented in English and Gaelic, the poems build on Meg Bateman’s established flair for uniting intense emotion and feeling with a classic, restrained control and structure that harkens back to Gaelic song-poetry and the beauty in a poem’s inevitability.

“The poems have the strength and simplicity of art made for a community rather than an elite, though they are far from artless.” —The Guardian

“The end result of this beautifully constructed and paced collection is a universal evocation of commonalities fused by human consideration . . . The title Transparencies hints at ephemeral moments caught. The poet suggests she aspires to a ‘palimpsest’ of emotions recalled and now renewed upon the page. She succeeds.” —The Herald

“Meg Bateman’s embrace of Gaelic has awakened her poetry to a noble passionate candor rare in today’s over-ironical English.” —Les Murray

Meg Bateman

Meg Bateman was born in Edinburgh in 1959. She lectures at Sabhal Mor Ostaig in Skye, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands, where she teaches literature and philosophy through the medium of Gaelic. She learned Gaelic in South Uist and the University of Aberdeen where she taught for many years. Her poetry is included in numerous anthologies such as the 'Penguin Book of Scottish Verse' and the 'Penguin Book of Poetry from Britain and Ireland since 1945'. She has translated and co-edited anthologies of Gaelic medieval, 17th century and religious verse. Her two collections, 'Aotromachd / Lightness' and 'Soirbheas / Fair Wind', both published by Polygon, were shortlisted for the Scottish Book of the Year award in 1997 and 2007.

Birlinn Ltd