As a parish priest, caring for his parishioners and sharing the word of God is Scott's spiritual vocation. As a poet, Scott reveals a delicate tenderness that would be hard to convey from the pulpit. "Poetry communicates but in rather a strange way”, said Scott. “People read the book in their own homes and you never quite know what people are making of it. Poetry is an interesting underground way of communicating with people."
One of the strengths of "Piecing Together" is its ability to capture and communicate the spiritual dimension of everyday life, and to breathe life and wonder into the most mundane of objects or circumstances. “There is a moment of inspiration when you think 'Gosh that's the first time that I've really felt that' - so I'm going to try and hold onto it", he said. "But if you hold onto it too much you squeeze the life out of it." "So the point then is to try and get the experience into words so that it doesn't destroy the original excitement - so the poem conveys both the subject matter and the internal feeling about it - which is quite tricky really", added Scott. The final poem in the collection Written in Juice of Lemon simply conveys this sense of excitement - that a poem holds safe a secret that will be revealed to those who care to look.
"I remember as a child we had a book of things to do on wet afternoons” Scott continued. "One was to write secret messages on a piece of paper in lemon juice and then you put them by the fire and then the words became clear - you couldn't read the message until you had warmed it up. "I thought this was a wonderful idea - that someone reads your poems and the words are somehow warmed up and then the words become alive to them - because they are enjoying them or they mean something to them - a sort of secret way of communicating", he added. David has lived and worked in Winchester for the past 14 years - long enough for him to be considered a local you would think. "I'm beginning to get to know the place quite well and I'm getting to know the people I serve here", he said. Understatement is a trait that characterises his poetry and from the short time I spent with him - his personality too. From the cloistered stillness of the rectory office, parish priest David Scott has produced a simple and beautiful collection of poetry. Piecing Together by David Scott, published by Bloodaxe Books on 28 April 2005, £7.95. | 
