Eggs, woods, football, nations, smoke, birds (common, other), tigers, murders, curtains, rivers, chromosomes, love (varieties of), Welles (Orson), pints, bras, partings, heartings, breakings, namings, and diverse other matters, in poetry free and formal, within this book, the first from its author.

This volume views Doris Lessing's writing as a whole and in retrospect, focusing on her innovative attempts to rework literary form to engage with the challenges thrown up by the sweeping historical changes through which she lived.