The True Height of the Ear (Arc, £9.99) is the first volume of verse by Iain Galbraith, who was born in Glasgow, brought up at Arrochar in Argyll, and now lives at Wiesbaden in Germany. He brings a fresh eye and a keen ear to the world, whether seen from a train - 'Snow-geese had never come this far' - or the river bank: 'No breath passes the shutter / and no wind ruffles the sail - / scenes taken in June on the river // girls in debate, their pale arms / like swans' necks against the blue keel.'