Wreck of the Fathership

W.N. [Bill] Herbert is a highly versatile poet who writes both in English and Scots. Born in Dundee, he established his reputation with two English/Scots collections from Bloodaxe, Forked Tongue (1994) and Cabaret McGonagall (1996). These were followed by The Laurelude (1998), The Big Bumper Book of Troy (2002), Bad Shaman Blues (2006), Omnesia (2013) and The Wreck of the Fathership (2020). He has also published a critical study, To Circumjack MacDiarmid (OUP, 1992) drawn from his PhD research. His practical guide Writing Poetry was published by Routledge in 2010. He co-edited Strong Words: modern poets on modern poetry (Bloodaxe Books, 2000) with Matthew Hollis, and Jade Ladder: Contemporary Chinese Poetry (Bloodaxe Books, 2012) with Yang Lian. Bill Herbert is Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing at Newcastle University and lives in a lighthouse overlooking the River Tyne at North Shields. He was Dundee's inaugural Makar from 2013 to 2018. Twice shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, his collections have also been shortlisted for the Forward Prize, McVities Prize, Saltire Awards and Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award. Four are Poetry Book Society Recommendations. In 2014 he was awarded a Cholmondeley Prize for his poetry, and an honorary doctorate from Dundee University. In 2015 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

• 13 Fathership GlosaGood Makar16 Cuttlefish Bone17 Nightfishing20 Broughty Ferry Beach: a renga23 Balgay Hill24 Blackness Caganer25 Ghost Bowling26 The Dundee Eve28 Clouds at Night30 Tay Nocturne31 The Road Bridge32 The Three Flies34 Tay Lightning36 Beach Terrace36 i ‘The swans glow grey in the night harbour’36 ii ‘Woken by a ghost helicopter’37 iii ‘Swans in the smirr’37 iv ‘Through some error when I wake up’38 v ‘The occasion of a death’38 vi ‘The buildings in the river’s reflection’39 vii ‘The wind’s inventing whiteness again’39 viii ‘Why do we think of them at all, the dead’40 The Continuity41 June Dolphin42 Kafka Eskimo44 Rain Habbies45 Burns’ Night Impromptu46 Physic47 Bregus49 Salary50 The Swans at Broughty Ferry Beach52 Sunday Morning Improv55 The Wreck of the Javanese PrincessAlgos59 The Tortoise 61 Kalighat63 Ganesh is Reading64 The Losers’ Table65 Four Songs in the Guangling Style, and a Signature65 i ‘Wine Madness’65 ii ‘Wild Geese on a Sandy River Bank’65 iii ‘Confucius after the Death of his Favourite Student’66 iv ‘The Woodcutter’s Song’66 v ‘Three Day Monk’67 Nanjing Nightboat68 The Two Haircuts70 An Exotic Dream of Leonora Carrington71 Teatro Orfeon74 Keaton in Space75 Lion in Sidecar76 Mother Goo79 The Fathership Jesus Mary and Jetsam 182 Verbotentotentanz, i ‘At first, owing to the absence’83 A Jesus of the Moon84 Emmaus, 199785 A Jesus of the Mammoths87 The Muriels89 A Jesus of the Beetles91 The Lost Poem92 Verbotentotentanz, ii ‘Meh skeleton twin’The Wreck of the Fathership95 i ‘My father was never old’95 Boat96 iii ‘The yellow man was doomed and knew it’97 The Assembling of the Crew98 v ‘He held up his hand and we watched it tremble’98 The Last Voyage100 Hopkinsian 1101 viii ‘Eating sibling-quick, too socially’102 The Discovery104 Hopkinsian 2105 xi ‘He approached it methodically as though’105 The Telling of the Wives106 Hopkinsian 3107 xiv ‘My father’s hand was larger of palm than mine’108 The Report109 Hopkinsian 4110 xvii ‘I remember the nurse saying ‘Goodbye’110 The Burning of the Mona112 xix ‘I keep seeing them wrestle you into’112 xx ‘Grant them peace, Patron of the sea’Dundee Doldrums115 23rd Doldrum Sailors’ Graveyard116 24th Doldrum ‘Thi Toun as thi homunculus o us’117 25th Doldrum ‘Hunkirt wee man in blae skeh blue’118 26th Doldrum ‘When the ghaists o thi dinged doon’119 27th Doldrum ‘Tae loup intae nithin’ 120 28th Doldrum ‘Fellini fiss oan thi Nummer 73’121 29th Doldrum The Fireman’s Daughter122 30th Doldrum Snugs123 31st Doldrum Cloud CityExecutive Quatrains/Captain my Captain126 1 inaugural rain/‘In an attempt to circumvent terrible times’127 2 the misrule/‘Language you were always going to tell us’128 3 a gowfbaa welcomes a bawbag tae balmoral/‘What is it like this to imagine someone’129 4 if in doubt, bomb/‘To listen as ekphrasis is an act of praise’130 5 strait is the visit/‘The high desert for your ocean floor’132 6 golfo de la empatía/‘You knew from the inside of childhood’133 7 der totentango/‘The mess of ages has got into the messages’134 8 sonetto per trumpo solo/‘Caged in renegado cabin’135 9 memento aurantium/‘The great moment keeps passing’Jesus Mary and Jetsam 2138 Verbotentotentanz, iii ‘It’s braa when ye’re deid’140 Helen in the Bardo144 On Napkins146 The Municipal Labyrinth147 On Cutlery149 Letter to Cath Jenkins151 On Brown Paper Bags153 Verbotentotentanz, iv ‘This thing you’re in’155 Death WullieNostos159 Cold City160 The Sleepers161 Byron’s Mask161 Follow Me162 Fish-fight at the Basilica Cisterns163 The Dream of the Airport 164 Pagomenos166 Portokáli 167 Zone168 How to Drink Ellenikós Kafés in Emprosneros169 Kombolói171 Maroudianá173 Whose English Is It Anyway?Bad Makar176 Tyne Valley Section 180 North of the Book182 The Calotype183 To a Ploughman184 The Parliaments of Birds186 Showing Sharon Olds the Carcasses in St Andrews187 Kirsty Wark on Broughty Ferry Beach, Or, An Indy Ref Ode189 Explaining Irn Bru to the English 190 The Farewell to Jim Murphy (et al)192 To a Rat194 Bad Makar McGonagalliana194 i The Resurrection of William McGonagall194 ii McGonagall and the Burns Statue 195 iii McGonagall as a Dog195 iv McGonagall and the Baxter Park Pavilion196 v Ode tae Yet Anither Dundee Railway Station197 vi Address to the Girders197 vii Broughty Ferry Blackout198 viii Address to the Dundee V&A201 Ode to the USS Discovery (Season One)203 The Couthier204 Undeed206 Mastercannibal209 Owed to Groucho’s210 Remains of Doggerland212 Rogues Reparcelled214 The Fall of Brexitopolis216 Gunlandia218 The Nine Trades Welcome You to the City of Refuge220 Il Futuro222 Dirt Bath225 The Giantess229 Notes

A weird mix of Desperate Dan, MacDiarmid and Dostoyevsky… a rare and fantastic voice.