A to B

A to B began as a poem about a journey: it became a journey in itself, a collection that travels through emotions and places, unfolding to the rhythms of discovery and memory. Places and people reveal their secrets; fragile bonds of love link past to present. In the book's first part, an elusive pattern is glimpsed in fragments: a plane climbs into a clear evening sky, the year turns to spring, a father's voice is remembered after his death. The second part is marked by meticulous observation. A man watches daylight creep across a room. And the concluding section celebrates a quality of silence in which imagination grows. Gerry McGrath extends our understanding of what it is to travel through the world. What began as a single poem written on a long drive into the countryside north of Glasgow has evolved into an imaginative collection exploring memory, journey, vulnerability, and love. This book of haunting verse ranges in theme, with observations on everything from a plane's ascent into the evening sky to imagined piano notes being absorbed by the earth. The beauty of Scotland combines with a sense of human fragility as the poems examine the relationship of an old Spanish exile and his wife, the memory of a father's voice, and much more.