Library Journal
Dunmore is a prolific English poet and novelist (e.g., The Siege) whose work has won numerous awards. This collection brings together poems from eight previous books spanning a quarter century. The poems are grouped together by collection, with the freshest, newest poems appearing first. Recurring images of family, memories, gardens, and people on the street are interwoven with the violence of war, a subject that inhabits much of Dunmore's fiction. Keen powers of observation are evident throughout ("A draught like a bony finger/ felt under the door"), and Dunmore's use of the language is elegantly musical ("five minutes to run/ for the snow-slewed school bus"). Dunmore sees beneath surfaces, and her richly articulated poetry describes these depths hauntingly. Recommended for all libraries with collections of poetry.-Judy Clarence, California State Univ. Lib., Hayward Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.