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
range textures tonal
The fabric of a garden is determined as much by its textures as by its tonal range and architectural flair.
cliffs constantly crumbling decay highest landscape nova park provincial red sandy shore slide slowly soft tides trees unlike wash
There is a red sandy beach in the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia that is unlike any other shore landscape I have ever seen. The world's highest tides wash its shores, and the soft cliffs of Blomidon Provincial Park are constantly crumbling away; whole trees will occasionally slide down to the sea to decay slowly in the wind and brine.
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.
area asylum home moved response scotland written
'The Asylum Dance' was written after I'd moved back to Scotland and was a response to moving to my old home area of Fife.
arctic circle map
I went for a walk in the Arctic Circle without map or compass. Fortunately, I was only lost for hours, not days.
coal felt jobs shut thousands
Thatcherite economic policy was most acutely felt in the coal industry, where tens of thousands of jobs were lost as pits were shut down.
far novels poems poetry seem tend tool
My poems tend to be more celebratory and lyrical, and the novels so far pretty dark. Poetry doesn't seem to me to be an appropriate tool for exploring that.
incredibly interests
Irrationality interests me more than anything: sometimes it's very dangerous, but it can be incredibly beautiful.
learning primary school
I remember when I first encountered anthropocentrism. I was in primary school and, in preparation for our confirmation, the class was learning about the afterlife.
chance effect fine growing happen health learnt
Growing up, I learnt to think, 'Let's make it a big night tonight, as you never know what's going to happen next.' So now I have enough, I take too much; when I get the chance to have a fine dinner, I will. And it's had an effect on my health.
allowed animal continuum human impossible life locked undergo
For the Yupik, all life was continuous, animal with human with 'spirit', and recognising that continuum allowed them to undergo transformations that we, locked into our own disappointingly Cartesian skins, find impossible even to imagine.
benefit conditions given information particular people wasps
Given the right information to help them decide, people will opt for conditions that benefit our creaturely neighbours, even where they have no particular interest in larks or cuckoo wasps - because those conditions benefit us.
believe choose question
If I tell you a story, you can choose to believe me, or you can question it.
rhythm rhythms seems words
What makes me write is the rhythm of the world around me - the rhythms of the language, of course, but also of the land, the wind, the sky, other lives. Before the words comes the rhythm - that seems to me to be of the essence.