Clear Light contains 150 haiku bursting with Alan Spence's characteristic verve and wit. Mythic and mesmerising, inspiring and hilarious, these poems shed clear light on the delights, hardships, breakthroughs and frustrations of the world of the momentary. Simple in form, these haiku request a fresh look at the familiar and leave us reeling at how much in the world, from the exotic to the everyday, we have yet to observe.
"One of Scotland's most accomplished literary talents. Alan's poems are glorious. Sharp, clear-eyed, seasonal, cyclical, devastatingly sensuous little moments that catch the heart with intimations of the whole big thing of being alive, here, now. So precise they make you want to sneeze, or laugh. A joy and a delight."
Liz Lochead
"Spence is a calm and necessary visionary ... This is Spence in essence, all openness of instinct and imagination."
Ali Smith
"He is a gentle writer, but never sentimental. The beautiful moments have always been earned. He is a writer to cherish, one offering deep and fulfilling pleasures."
