Judges award £10,000 poetry prize

Robertson, 50, from Scone, Perthshire, is the first poet to have won both the best collection prize and the best first collection prize.

The first, A Painted Field, was a winner in 1997. Swithering is the third collection he has released.

Indian-born Tishani Doshi, 31, won the £5,000 best first collection prize for Countries of the Body.

Robertson said: "I am delighted and surprised. It has been a strong for poetry as the shortlist for this award shows.

LIZARD BY ROBIN ROBERTSON

Volatile hybrid of dinosaur and toy, this
living remnant throbs on the hot stone:
a prehistoric offcut, six inches
of chlorophyll-green dusted with pollen;
a trick of nature - lithe, ectopic, cuneiform -
a stocking-filler, out of place everywhere
but in the sun. Frisking the wall,
its snatched run is a dotted line
of fits and starts, spasmodic, end-stopped.
It pulses once; slips into a rock with a gulp.

"It's always nice to win anything but when you are up against poets that you have always admired, it is remarkable."

Tishani Doshi admitted her success was taking some getting used to.

"Writing poetry seems almost like an indulgence, so to win such an award is slightly surreal.

"But I am very happy that it means more people will read my work and poetry as a whole."

Sean O'Brien won the £1,000 best single poem prize with Fantasia On A Theme Of James Wright.

The judges said his work "is as close as it is possible to come to a perfect poem".

O'Brien, 53, from Newcastle, is a previous winner of the best collection prize.

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