Firth is Garry MacKenzie’s poetic portrait of the Firth of Forth, spanning deep time, ecological collapse, and a troubled future. Formally inventive—from haiku to long sequences—its poems interweave human and non-human perspectives with political and environmental urgency. Anchored locally but globally resonant, MacKenzie’s work interrogates our impact on the natural world with beauty, depth, and metaphysical insight.
Poetic exploration of the Firth of Forth, blending nature, history, and ecological urgency.
Firth is Garry MacKenzie’s richly layered poetic portrait of the Firth of Forth, spanning deep geological time, the rise and fall of the nineteenth-century fishing industry, and a future threatened by pollution and extinction. Formally inventive, the collection moves from haiku and prose sequences to ambitious long works, interweaving human and non-human perspectives. Politically urgent yet never preachy, MacKenzie’s poems explore beauty, devastation, and meaning in a shoreline of microplastics and bird flu. Anchored locally but resonant globally, Firth interrogates the ways we engage with the natural world, offering insight, urgency, and enduring poetic power.