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Longer Poems are a rarity in the small press, and the particular challenges they pose for the publisher partly explain the dearth of writers who are skilled in the genre.

Poetry Scotland's special issue is therefore particularly welcome. The A4, three column format is well suited to the publication of longer poems. Unsurprisingly, few are seen in their entirety, with about 15 examples squeezed into eight pages. There is an extraordinarily pleasing range of forms and subject matter, starting with James McGonigal's PASSAGE/ AN PASAISTE, the winner of the Deric Bolton long poem competition, for which this issue doubles as an anthology. McGonagil is not the only contributor to explore the links between Celtic traditions, here using a personal travelogue as the canvas for a panoramic depiction of shifting populations and their economic histories:

	Ireland? You'd need to shovel west again
	for years to reach Dungannon, Donegal
	or Quigley's Point. There's small coal there.

	A ballant fettle for a wair ban's sung:
	Around Catryth, the sojers wis rowed roun.

	Wang Wei ann an Torr an Daimh.

	Gun a bhith na Shithean.

	You and the drugs, together, Frances, dear.
	Pauline's cocktail — Doctor Stuart's that is —
	cancels the pain and the anxiety.
	(And pulps whole chapters of your memory.)

	No news travels
	across the spume.
	Time tends the child's
	smooth bough of hurt.

	. if an ant had written Shakespeare why the fuss?
	What news of Bill, Quill Bill who wrote the plays?
	Invisible behind the omnibus.

This issue invites the reader into a land of intellectual pleasure and play. The poems cascade one above the other, eight pages covered with words like black currants, with a bit of maroon for emphasis. There are no visual bits, no bells, no whistles, only the images conjured from the blending and mixing of words, words, words, a frugally beautiful use of ink and paper with special allure for the thinking person.

This issue has a Welsh theme, with poems in Welsh, English, Scots, and Gaelic. There's a touch of humor, as when Robert Ritchie puts the sentiments of Robert Burns' MY LOVE IS LIKE A RED, RED, ROSE into the mouth of an awkward youth, and when Douglas Gray's poem tips the bottle rather than battling for his Helen. The poetry selected for this issue demonstrates not only the depth and breadth of emotion that characterizes truly good work, but also a broad comprehension of elements of literature and history. It is poetry for the intelligent reader with a well-honed sense of humor, poetry for deep-feeling thinkers who aren't too stuffy. POETRY SCOTLAND defines and redefines love as something worth living, unadorned and ever-present, in a land where words leave shadows. It takes a long time to read these eight pages, because each page is rich with words worth keeping.

Lis Lee writes in VANILLA SUMMER of

	Uncommon saffron seaweed graced shells,

	Summer slipped away like the ice cream
	that fell on my leg, sailed knee to ankle,

Sheena Blackhall lists the ICONS OF SCOTLAND and gives them a modern twist, saying

 
	I'm a Celtic fashion nose ring,
	Wi a Cairngorm stud fer yer snoot,
	If ye had a snottery pyocher,
	I'd advise ye tae takk me oot.

	We had notions of what we might not fail in,
	and some have been realised.  No deft scholar
	has ever lived wihout uses, ...
	...
	a memory of sweaty evening light
	in your garden, at tennis, your blond curls flushed with sunset
	your strong serve beating me out of sight,
	to where I lift you, dear trophy, against the night.

Poetry Scotland, A4 size appears in black and occasional red texts. 8 pages accommodate a range of poetic works of a varied and diverse range of voices.

For readers it is a great collection of voices with poetic works that range from genuinly great poetry to mundane and some even could be said to be cold and absurd even.

In this issue we have about 65 poems that are works of as almost as many poets. This possibly is the great strength of the magazine in that it offers a home to voices that are varied and both new and established poets. This is a huge characteristic of a good and successful poetry publication, which keeps a continuous flow of refreshing and talented works of poetry to the publication and helps it to avoid becoming too much of a dry, uptight and almost academically padantic. This essentially causes the loss of readership.

Publishing poetry these days is not a money making venture rather it is an apologetic exclamation to the market for at all being published. Simply it is a child of pure love of poetry and the art of words with which poetry conducts its business.

Todd Swift, James Aitchison, Douglus Grey, Chris Powici, Colin Will, Juliet Wilson, Alison Reid, Jennifer Elliot and Martin Green appear on the cover page that has a red alert, probably meant to be the editorial?

Todd Swift's BIRTHDAY 38 is a melancholy portrait of a birthday that is weather beaten, with a red card that has lost its glittered bits and the-left-alone-husband to deal with mid thirties celebration on his own.

Robert Davidson's PERSISTSTENCE OF MEMORY takes centrefold with poems occupied with memories that intend to take an impersonal look at memories in probably the poet's efforts to achieve some sort of objectivity.

Most likeable poems probably in the this issue are Jennifer Elliot's LEGEND, Juliet Wilson's STEALING FROM SHAKESPEARE, Sue Hemmings' MAGENTA COOL, Elizabeth Burns', THE BOAT TRIP, James' Aitchison's ATLANTIC WAVES.

But with vibrant youthful voice and soulful tones Sebastian Barker's KATIE, I CAUGHT THE GLIMPSE OF A GOLDEN RAY and I WENT TO WORK ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL are by far the best read in this issue:

	I went to work on the way to school
	I went to work on the way things are.
	I redefined the metre rule
	The metre of the avatar.
	I stole from college books the full
	Catastrophe, the fallen star.
	Men, women, children, the saint or full
	I went to work on the way to school.

	The day after I learnt you had gone home
	to a country that is not Poland
	I was in a bar speaking Polish
	with some old drunk who said
	he thought I was an angel

One can only expect that it will continue to be published and get disributed widely and read by more readers and lovers of poetry with as much enthusiasm as is shown by its Editorial Team.

Poetry Scotland #33 comprises Rody Gorman's collection NEW POEMS & SUBVERSIONS. It is heavily anecdotal and prose-like as in NE'ERDAY:

	Well, here we are — another year
	and we're still here!
	Down in the village,
	if you turn off the DVD player
	and listen carefully,
	you can hear the sound of the odd person
	cracking away
	in languages they call their own.

	Aunty less than a week dead,
	I was back in her house with Mother,
	Laying it out for sale
	In a fortnight's time —

	Nitromorsing the tables at first,
	clearing the shelves of their
	contents, packing them all
	into old boxes, buried 
	under all the dust

Issue #34 comprises Pam Russell's collection WILD WINGS which despite a tendency to florid syntax and to over-describe nature does manage to balance the particular with the general. In ALMOST ASLEEP we see a fine poetic register:

	I see the loch, the hills upsweep,
	patches of bracken, a rushing stream,
	smell rowan blossom, warm rich cream
	in honeyed slowness, almost asleep.

	Come follow me,
	to where the high tide flows,
	to where the suck and crash of waves
	is deafening,
	where turmoiled turbulence of foam
	is dizzying,
	the rocks stay still.

	Dark clouds have filled the sky
	because I miss you,
	rain weeps in torrents,
	
	the trees have shed their leaves
	because I miss you,
	all colours leached away.

#35 is Poetry Scotland's SNOWY FUJI issue and comes free with the aforementioned single author issues. It contains a varied mix of poems from some names I'm familiar with such as Steve Sneyd and John Hegley. With such an eclectic mix the unevenness of this issue is inevitable. I won't go into any more detail about this issue as it would take too long to examine the varied mix and styles of poetry for a fair and representative review of the poems featured.