This is astonishing. Michael Pedersen is, without a shadow of doubt, an extraordinary wordsmith. The words flow from is pen in a cascade of beauty that left me wanting more and looking forward to his next book. Some of the words are naughty but they are never gratuitous. They make a statement about the sheer bloody mindedness of life, and are therefore essential to the power of the poems concerned. There are 48 poems in this book, telling the story of a young man’s life as he travels the world. Birthday Barbeque 2008 is about exactly that as the narrator and his friends sit on a rooftop in Kentish Town enjoying a barbeque. Starry-Eyed is about scanning the heavens and thinking of the gap that Peggy as left in his life. Cliff and Noc is about a guard (Cliff) working in a Maritime Museum in San Diego and of the whale who has learned to imitate human speech. (I assume that the whale was imitating American English, but that is not made explicit). James Dovetail is about the discovery that baked beans are a working-class food. Wherever the poems are set and whatever their subject matter, they are firmly rooted in Scotland because of the references and the language used. It is that sheer gallus language that gives the poems their power. Conversation overheard in Craigmillar Dental Practice is an account of a racist rant. It is actually very scary simply because no-one challenges what the woman is saying., until she is called in to have the dentist fix her teeth. We are not told what happens then. We are simply left squirming with embarrassment, reading the poem. You have to know that Craigmillar is not the kind of area in Edinburgh where it would be safe to issue such a challenge. Edinburgh is not all Morningside or Stockbridge. It is the city where “Trainspotting” was set. These are taut, well-constructed poems, vibrant with the Scots language. But do not let that put you off. You may not be familiar with some of the words used, but there is nothing obscure about them. The meaning is translucent and crystal clear. If you think that you do not like poetry, read this book anyway. It is a kind of writing that we were never introduced to in school, more’s the pity. This man has a talent that we can all enjoy.