News at Eleven: This is good stuff, language which enacts

what it describes, words working naturally for their keep, and the rest of the poem is just as good if not better, becoming a sort of shy metaphor for the human condition, as well as a little swimming lesson.

When [John] Burnside writes like this it is easy enough to see that here is a real poet working somewhere close to the top of his bent.

from Scotsman: Robert Nye on three new volumes of Scottish poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~