100 Favorite Scottish Football Poems, edited by Alistair Findlay.

Given the centrality of football in Scottish culture, it's strange that there haven't been more collections like this. This one is edited by Alistair Findlay, a poet who was once on Hibs' books, and it's a joy to read. One tiny criticism: there aren't enough poems here. Many of the pieces here are extracted from longer works. But if Scotland needs more quality writing about football, this is a good summary to start with. And it's a highly enjoyable one, with everything covered, from football in the streets, parks, and shipyards, to Denis Law, 'Twisting like spaghetti / Wrapped round a fork' or Bill Shankly, 'Football boots in one hand / Football's soul in the other'. As an editor, Findlay plays it like Dalglish, all skill and cunning, with his well judged flicks and tricks including putting The Fields of Athenry and The Sash back to back, and having Hugh MacDiarmid's pithy Glasgow, 1960 supplemented later by Tom Leonard's witty response from 'situations contemporary and theoretical', and later again by James Robertson's clever Glasgow 2015. He also contributes a comprehensive introduction from which poetry fans can learn about football, and football fans about poetry. At the end of the day, it's a brilliant book. [Keir Hind]