This volume of poems ranges over a variety of forms from the prose poem to light verse, but its heart lies in the dozens of short lyrics in which Oliver captures moments of perception in compelling images. If in earlier collections Oliver took on the great modernist, post romantic themes (questions of whether the landscape speaks, and of the roles of memory and of the poet), here the poems are more personal, exploring the emotions raised by Oliver's return to his homeland in New Zealand after 20 years spent in Australia and the wider world.
