Past Tense Future Imperfect

In these rich and witty poems, we encounter a gallery of characters, voices and situations in various stages of emotional undress and bewilderment, fretting at just the wrong distance from reality in railway stations, ferries, restaurants, war zones and watery dystopias. They are filmic pieces that announce the arrival of an unusually gifted poet, in a short collection much bigger than its size – entertaining, disturbing and despite the odds curiously life-affirming.

Here, the poet makes the...