Enigmatic, densely woven imagery exploring fugitive states of mind is juxtaposed with a plain-spoken narrative in this collection of poetry by Robert Saxton. Starting with a murder in China during the age of Confucius and ending with a sestina about a difficult family Christmas in front of the television, a restless, rhyme-driven craftsmanship, energetic in making new forms as well as in exploiting traditional ones, unites these extremes. The poetry's focus ranges from landmarks in cultural history, such as the first performance of Nijinsky's ballet "L'apres-midi d'un faune, to the poet's...

Juggling its opposites with panacheheart and intellect, melancholy and zest, derangement and perspicacitythis varied poetry collection is a poignant meditation on love, memory, travel, and homecoming. Beginning with early stirrings of logical thought in a Paleolithic cave, the focus ranges through different times, places, and viewpoints before homing close in the last poems to recent personal family predicaments that are universal in their resonance. Restless in its craftsmanship, responsive in its moods, with graceful notes of wit and meaningful play, this book delights with the music of...

The China Shop Pictures ranges widely in time, space and subject matter, encompassing Jacobite wine glasses, pedagogical horses, a Japanese invention for walking on water, and a medley of viewpoints both famous and anonymous-from Virgil and Gerard de Nerval to a woman who's in love with "the monkey they left on the moon" and a man who complains (unfairly) to a sales assistant that the umbrella he's bought has a design fault."