John Burnside
John Burnside
John Burnsideis a Scottish writer, born in Dunfermline. He is one of only two poetsto have won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for the same book...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth19 March 1955
navigate
I'm interested in the way language is used to navigate the world around us.
desk organic poems poetry tend
With fiction, I tend to get to my desk and start writing. Poetry I write in my head, often while walking, so that my poems have an organic quality, hopefully.
encounters gravity joyful level partner possible teaches work
What the flamingo teaches a child, at that subliminal level where animal encounters work, is that gravity is not just a limitation, but also a possible partner in an intriguing, potentially joyful game.
argued human
With human beings it could be argued that all music-making is, in essence, grounded in improvisation.
saving
What we should be doing is saving habitats, not single species, no matter what their cuteness factor.
mistrust suspect took
Usually, I would mistrust a book if it took that long to write. Usually, if it isn't done in two years, I suspect there's something wrong and throw it away.
mining town weary
Snow isn't just pretty. It also cleanses our world and our senses, not just of the soot and grime of a Fife mining town but also of a kind of weary familiarity, a taken-for-granted quality to which our eyes are all too susceptible.
defining itself known knows lose musically presence primary species
For a bird, especially for the more musically inventive, song is the defining characteristic, the primary way by which it knows itself and is known by others. To lose its species song is to lose not just its identity but some part of its presence in the world.
abundance air chance clean existence filling life living mass meadows repeated require rivers steady truth
This is a truth that should be repeated like a mantra: to have any chance of a ful - filling life, we require not only clean air and a steady climate, but also an abundance of meadows and woodlands, rivers and oceans, teeming with life and the mass existence of other living creatures.
deny man warmth
A man was defined, in my father's circles, by what he could bear, the pain he could shrug off, the warmth or comfort he could deny himself.
consumed felt
As a child, I was consumed with a near-obsessive curiosity about what the world felt like for other creatures.
rather term
I don't like the term 'mental illness.' I'd rather just say 'mad.' Just like I always say 'loony bin,' not 'mental hospital.'
across almost house pleasure stumbling
The only pleasure in redecorating or moving house comes from stumbling across books that I'd almost forgotten I owned.
range textures tonal
The fabric of a garden is determined as much by its textures as by its tonal range and architectural flair.