Book review: Doves, by Lachlan Mackinnon

Shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection in 2010, Lachlan Mackinnon’s last book, Small Hours, concluded with a long poem, “The Book of Emma”, in which he reflected on the death of a friend from his time as an undergraduate. Reviewing the book in the Independent, Boyd Tonkin suggested that poems about death seemed to be coming back into vogue, adding that “The Book of Emma” brought “a new richness and resonance to the rediscovered art of mourning”. Mackinnon would no doubt prefer not to become pigeonholed as a laureate of doom and gloom, but in his latest collection, Doves, death is once again at the forefront of his mind.