Whit Grace

Whit Grace is Anne Shivas's first collection and comes after years of work in Scotland, Vermont and Israel. Her poems explore culture, landscape and identity in each of these places, from the Scottish coast, to the hills and villages around Jerusalem, and the dramatic seasonal shifts in rural Vermont. The poems are often playful in form and in their use of language but also explore the weight and heft of words, especially the poet's own Scots tongue, and the magic of naming things. Using the Doric vocabulary of the North-east of Scotland, the title poem An Wi Whit Grace addresses the issue of identity asking "Scottish child, / div ye ken yer place / in the universe? / Faar's hame?" Whit Grace explores universal themes of kin, loss, displacement, praise, and spirit. It is a searching meditation on what constitutes one's home and an affirmation of our commonality on different shores. It celebrates the natural world within and without, and its restorative solace.