'From long narrative lines to fine-boned, lyrical loops and ties that bind these poems into place, Richard James Allen has taken risks with language that mark this as his most adventurous and significant book to date.' - Anthony Lawrence

'Allen's subject is Being itself, and the way our biological and mental dimensions interact, with human intelligence and love being the unifying forces for this interaction.' - Adam Aitken

'This is a book full of hauntings, ruins, and after-effects. The perspective is philosophical and curious, habitually metapoetic, by turns panoramic and hyper-focused, and imbued with a quiet mysticism.' - Melinda Smith

'In philosophical poems grounded in the everyday, wide-ranging excursions from the physical into the metaphysical, Allen affirms life in the midst of hardship and in the mess of the quotidian uncovers epiphanies.' - Luke Fischer

'The poems dazzle and delight. Some are haunting and delicate, others explosively powerful. There is an intimate feel as if they are all addressed to the reader directly.' - Lynne Lancaster, Sydney Arts Guide

About the Author

Richard James Allen is an Australian born poet whose writing has appeared widely in journals, anthologies, and online over many years. Previous critically acclaimed books of poetry, fiction and performance texts include Thursday's Fictions (Five Islands Press), which was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry. Former Artistic Director of the Poets Union Inc., and director of the inaugural Australian Poetry Festival, Richard also co-edited the landmark anthology, Performing the Unnameable: An Anthology of Australian Performance Texts (Currency Press/RealTime).

He graduated with First Class Honours for his B.A. at Sydney University and won the Chancellor's Award for most outstanding PhD thesis at the University of Technology, Sydney.