Mick Evans is a writer who takes risks. Never content to remain static, the voice is increasingly explorative, increasingly nuanced and possessed of a compassion that is also clear-sighted. The feel for language, the lyrical pulse, the acuteness of observation and the range and depth of references are signature features of Mick Evans' work. But with each new collection the reach is extended. There are poems here that unsettle or warn, that celebrate or remember, that surprise and delight, poems that make us laugh or wonder… and always there is love — not sentiment, not nostalgia, but permeable, authentic, love in all its shades of grief and joy.