Scales Dog
New and Selected Poems

Hutchison is a "poet's poet" who has been setting standards outside the mainstream, but is now attracting a broader audience too. "Scales Dog" is a book which ranges widely with invention and delight. It is distinctively Scottish in some respects - but the appeal is international. It has depth and humour to carry its readers all the way through.

Singling out "An Ounce of Wit to a Pound of Clergy" - which is the opening poem in the collection "Carbon Atom", and was published as a pamphlet by Gael Turnbull - Ian Hamilton Finlay said: "The Hutchison piece is fascinating to me ...really good, energetic, knotty, interesting". Gael Turnbull added his own praise when invited to comment on on early draft of "Scales Dog" by writing: "There are a dozen or so poems in the collection which register for me as having a totally unique quality, a momentum and richness, an energy and an edge, quite unlike anything I know written by anyone else". Recently, Hutchison's work has sparked a response from a broader audience, and he is recognised by contemporary writers as a poet whose work has cut its own channels gradually, and is steadily gaining in reputation. "Scales Dog" is a book which ranges widely with invention and delight. It is distinctively Scottish in some respects - but the appeal is international. It has depth and humour to carry its readers all the way through.

Promise Shame Speed Mastery Blame Ease Dirt from Half Options UK St Swithin's Day The G** Spot The bookcase of the wood of the beauty red A Heirarchy of Bold Type Five Cinquains The Climate of the Hypothalamus Matthew Arnold Refuses To Exit the Building Due Care Idiot in truth uniform Lipsmackin' Ashes Pretty Junk Honestly People Moulded Out of Air People who are drawn to take free stress tests People who charm your pants off need more love People who infer via mass media (Live 8) People with a Point to Prove Addiction Bells Ethos The Meaning of Life The Hard Problem There must be something in the water children were us Two Days Off Windfall the stars say are bananas still fabulous Waroirrs of the Whiled West Femmes de Ville The unexamined life is not worth living Vision