Talking with Tongues

"I have read [Talking with Tongues] with much interest. The language component is strong, but so is the sense of history, and indeed the whole book is a vigorous reminder of how linguistically orientated Scottish poetry has been over the centuries. It revives, in fact, the medieval macaronic tradition in a modern and witty fashion. The range of reference from Anerin to Desert Storm is good for opening the mind and scouriing it out a bit."

"Brian D Finch is a 'talker' of note in a city of eloquent tongues, whether in the convival surroundings of Tennent's Bar or as the accomplished poet of this collection... He feels passionately about the obscenities of modern life, composing an almost public poetry in the time-honoured Scottish tradition, yet retaining throughout an outstanding sense of humour and an ever-present awareness of the ridiculous. Here then is a clamjamfry of poems which draw on the past but speak to the present and the future. No doubt Brian will persist in his flagellation of the Establishment and his deflation of the pretentious. His tongues will continue to talk and we will all be the richer for it."