The 'rough climate' of the title reflects the encroaching unease that many people feel about the circumstances of their lives. In his seventh collection (and his first for seven years) E.A. Markham draws attention to the euphemisms and other abuses of language which help to coarsen this climate.

As well as poems about his native Montserrat, focusing on the devastating effect of the volcano, there are poems on many aspects of life in England and Europe, and two entertaining, partly autobiographical prose pieces, 'Taking the Drawing Room through Customs' and 'In Other Words', which also make an informal commentary on the background to the poems.