This book is the poet's first commercial collection of poems since 1979. It comprises five pamphlets originally published by Peppercanister Press in Dublin. The themes of the poems include violence, love, friendship, family history and the bloody social history of the early 19th century. Kinsella has also edited The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse and is sometimes associated with Irish culture in America, where he teaches part-time as Professor of English in Temple University, Philadelphia.