It would seem that John O'Loughlin adds ten poems to each new volume of poetry; for this collection has some fifty-four poems, dating from 1985, which carry on, both stylistically and thematically, from approximately where those in 'The Modern Death' (1984) leave off, with, if anything, a slightly deeper metaphysical and ideological bias. The title derives, as usual, from one of the poems, and has to be read to be believed