Square Baw
Published on 8. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
144 pages
978-1-917881-01-2 (ISBN)
Description
Square Baw is a collection of football poems that not only covers personal experience, but takes a deep dive into the history of the Scottish game itself, and thereby goes to the heart of Scottish masculinity.
'Hamish's love of the beautiful game shines like a floodlight in this beezer of a collection. He effortlessly combines the punchy, gallus fever of the terraces with this tender, lyrical, homage to football's past. A master of language, a poet secure in his craft, the Bankies Bard has done it again!' Julie McNeil, Poet, author of We Are Scottish Football and co-editor of A Most Unsuitable Game
'Hamish's love of the beautiful game shines like a floodlight in this beezer of a collection. He effortlessly combines the punchy, gallus fever of the terraces with this tender, lyrical, homage to football's past. A master of language, a poet secure in his craft, the Bankies Bard has done it again!' Julie McNeil, Poet, author of We Are Scottish Football and co-editor of A Most Unsuitable Game
Reviews / Votes
Poignant, funny, on-target and true, this is a cracking collection of poems.Even for someone who is not a diehard football follower, Hamish MacDonald's exploration of what really makes the Scottish game tick is rich and revealing. It digs down to the roots, touching on issues of class, community and politics as it goes, and is as much a social and family history as it is a record of local heroes, close miracles and glorious failures - the world so brilliantly captured in just one of the poems, 'The Fitba Multiverse'.
With its powerful evocation of men and boys who loved the game going off to war and coming back to poverty or not coming back at all, Square Baw makes a persuasive argument in support of the Shankly dictum that football is much more important than a matter of life and death. James Roberston, author of The Testament of Gideon Mack -- James Robertson * Preview *
A fantastic mix of history, autobiography and biography through the prism of Scottish football: the cold, but redemptive, days on the terraces, the constancy (and hopelessness) of hope, the intricate relationships between football and working class rhythms of life, and - through the story of the poet's grandfather William Grant - the overlaps between football and war. A lovely celebration of a few strands of the 'fitba multiverse'. Peter MacKay, Poet, translator, broadcaster and Scotland's Makar -- Peter MacKay * official preview quote * This book is like two large calloused hands lifting you over the turnstiles to take you on a journey through the history, tribes and folklore that shaped our national game. An uplifting and essential read. Donna Matthew, Makar for the Scottish Women's National Team Poetry Society -- Donna Matthew * official preview *
More details
Language
Other
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
10 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 129 mm
Width: 199 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
228 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-917881-01-2 (9781917881012)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Hamish MacDonald is a poet, playwright and novelist with works published, broadcast and performed in Scots and English. He is a contributor to several publications by Scots language imprint Itchy Coo Publishing and has worked as writer and presenter on historical and political documentaries for BBC Radio Scotland including 'The Scot Who Stayed in Argentina', telling the story of political intrigues at the 1978 FIFA World Cup. He was the first Robert Burns Writing Fellow for Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association (2003-05) and the first Scots Scriever for the National Library of Scotland (2015-17). As performance poet he became Scottish Slam Poetry champion in 2022 and runner-up in the Coupe du Monde de Poesie world slam poetry fi nals in Paris in the same year, as well as a semifinalist at the World Poetry Slam, Rio de Janeiro in 2023. A lifelong fan of Clydebank Football Club, since 2020 he has fulfilled the role of Bankies Bard as honorary poet of the club. His most recent poetry collections include 'Wilson's Ornithology & Burds in Scots' (Scotland Street Press) and 'Kilbowie Dreams' (Clydebank Football Club).