A Cockpit Anthology: Poems to be Read at Sea

Paul Williams

ARC Subsea

£14.99

Any anthology is a personal selection, likely to produce unexpected pleasures as well as occasional disappointments. Sometimes both come together. I was intrigued by the inclusion of verses from The Song to the Isle of Mingulay but would also have enjoyed the lilting rhythms of The Mingulay Boat Song. Singing – or declaiming – when alone in the cockpit is a pleasure that helps the miles go by and there’s good material in this spiral- bound, waterproofed volume. It’s an anthology of words and phrases – ‘groggy’ ‘lubber’ ‘tarpaulin muster’ – which offer an alternative diversion if the solitary warblings are voted down. I liked its Scottish flavour though wasn’t sure how often I could bear to reread William McGonagall.