Swithering

"Roberston's eye is entirely his own. He delivers the won truths of perception with exactitude, energy and grace."
Mark Doty

This title was short-listed for the 2006 T. S. Eliot Prize. In Scots, the verb 'swither' has two meanings: to be doubtful, to waver, to be in two minds; and to appear in shifting forms - indeterminate and volatile. From disarmingly direct poems about the end of childhood to erotically charged lyrics about the ends of desire, Robertson's powerful third collection is stalked and haunted by both senses. Hard-edged, pitch-perfect, effortlessly various, "Swithering" is a book of brave and black romance, locating its voice in that space where great change is an ever-present possibility.