Tentatively, Convenience's Reviews > Honey by the Water

As w/ everything I've ever seen by Finlay, this bk is nicely crafted - &, of course, Black Sparrow Press did a good job too. I mainly think of Finlay as a Scottish Concrete Poet - but, then, I haven't read any of his short stories or plays. As the short bio about him in the back of the bk explains, he's often lived on islands - & many of the poems I've seen by him have to do w/ the sea & boats. These poems are often little more than lists of things like boat names or registration numbers arranged in a somewhat pictorial pattern. Such techniques(s) are usually associated w/ the 'avant-garde' but in Finlay's case it seems more folkish - maybe b/c of the subject matter, maybe b/c he makes sundials, maybe b/c his work has a seaside & rural sensibility. He's unique &, as always, that makes me like him.