McEwen, Ian: The Sideways for It

The Sideways for It is a tour de force of poetic invention - adventurous, gleeful and illuminating. Crafted to read as the eye leads, the poems are experienced both as commentary and personal engagement, whether the subject is the shifting arrangement of intimate clothing in department stores or builders at work. Ian's work draws us into 'the silence of space,' urges us to observe the bridge cupping its shadow 'like a lover,' the clustered Xs of girls somersaulting and the 'delicate proboscis of the moth'. All the while one wonders how poetry so technical can be so human, how the writer can be 'so natural in his practised tricks'.