Learning How to Sing extends James Aitchison's celebration of the natural world, and in his poems on islands and seaways the celebration is a form of pilgrimage. His compositions encompass other topics: for example James Aitchison on time ranges from recalling the origins of life to recognising the uncertain future of our world; his vision of lived time and mortality is expressed in elegiac lyrics for Duke Ellington, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and lost friends.
From the publication of Brain Scans in 1988 to that of The Gates of Light many books later in 2016, the life and nature of the mind have been recurring subjects in James Aitchison's poetry. In this ample new collection his poems on that theme are subtle, sometimes disturbing and, in the poems on his own mental states, darkly humorous.
Learning How to Sing, like all James Aitchison's previous collections, shows his respect for language and the craft of poetry.
What critics said about James Aitchison's previous book, The Gates of Light (Mica Press, 2016)
'I'll come straight out with it: James Aitchison is one of my favourite living poets and the arrival of The Gates of Light [...] is a cause for celebration, even if the themes of the book are not always celebratory in themselves.' - Richie McCaffery, London Grip
'At the heart of it are a sustained sense of wonder and humility in the face of the created world, and a wary thankfulness that the powers are still there to chart the tiny and major changes of the seasons.' - Peter Carpenter, The North
'He celebrates many of nature's enduring qualities, both in the wild and in the cultivated spaces of gardens. In several of the very fine poems in this collection, he shifts from the human perspective to the cosmic, and shows how entwined they are. - Morelle Smith, The Scottish Review.
James Aitchison takes concepts of apparent simplicity, but in the expression of personal experience we find a universality that we can relate to [...] This collection was a pleasure to read. - Morelle Smith, The Scottish Review.
The poems shift through seasons and the vast elements of sea, land and air, with particular reference to the birds that move with apparent ease from one to the other; and all of us, trees, birds, humans and planet affected by that great star that sheds the light that permeates these poems.' - Morelle Smith, The Scottish Review.
'His perspective allows a generous encompassing vision with a sharp awareness of the beauty and horror of the world, and a deeply moving acceptance of the probable closeness of death'. - Maggie Butt, Acumen
