Don Paterson was born in Dundee in 1963. His first success was as a jazz guitarist in London with the folk-jazz ensemble Lammas. After an inspiring encounter with the poet Tony Harrison, he set himself a year’s reading before embarking on a poetic career of his own. He has won many prizes, including the T. S. Eliot prize, twice. He is now a poetry editor with Picador, and still plays jazz guitar. ‘The Circle’ is from his latest collection, Rain (Faber and Faber, 2009), and is reprinted here with permission.
My boy is painting outer space, and steadies his brush-tip to trace the comets, planets, moon and sun and all the circuitry they run
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