G W Colkitto – författare

In Clyde: my river G W Colkitto takes us on an extended journey that travels as much through time as place. Deftly weaving together scenes from childhood to adulthood, from family to social commentary and politics with a river that is itself as much a character as the parents, brothers, royalty and worker who populate these poems, Colkitto conjures a tone that is at once wistful and precise; that is both astute and deeply humane. Whether working with long declamatory lines or a tumble of short drum beats, this is poetry that is alive to the power of language and all the ways in which we connect. Beneath a surface simplicity there is not only enormous craft at work, but layers of meaning beckoning us back to read and read again and find something new each time. 'Suspension Bridge'I thought it exoticas if California came to Glasgowwanted to paint it gold

Memory, time, love and loss weave through all of G W Colkitto’s poems with a resonance that moves us fluidly from yearning to insight. The master of seeing connections, Shake the Kaleidoscope finds Colkitto taking a view across the whole of life: non-linear, sometimes fragmentary, imbued with whimsy and humour, but above all permeable to the scars and triumphs of loss and love. As the poems range back and forth across the years, one memory provoking another, it is not only the whole of the poet’s life laid out in the pieces of glass to be endlessly rearranged, but the whole of the human condition. Whether examining interior moments or negotiations with the world of work; whether writing astute commentary on political and social inequalities, or simply savouring those small moments of deep joy provoked by the simplest of things, Colkitto holds up a mirror to life—his own, and ours.

In Crown of Thorns G W Colkitto presents a playful yet erudite take on sonnets and not sonnets. Layered with references that are used to hold a mirror to the self, and with an astute focus on the business of writing poetry itself, this is a deft, intelligent, witty collection. This award-winning pamphlet is delivered with the lightness of touch we’ve come to recognise from a poet who constantly extends his reach.