This text draws on six previous collections published between 1978 and 1994. The earlier poems are diverse, ranging from descriptions of work in heavy industry to observations of wildlife around the writer's childhood home in Wales. Later poems deal with travel in Brazil and the United States, and also deal with schizophrenia. The book celebrates the life and characters of a close-knit community. It then breaks away from the peopled landscape to consider history and culture from wider persepectives.