Two men are crossing the drum-bridge at Kameido,
laughing and talking together.
They do this in a print by Hokusai.
Below them runs the torrent of the river.

It seems to be near to dusk.
When they climb the steep curve of the bridge
their high wooden shoes
clack on the cross-stays...

from 'The Drum-Bridge at Kameido'

This collection moves from secrecy to candour, as the poet begins to remember things, people and events that made and marred him. He sets them in order and discloses, in the rapt contemplation of Hokusai, in the stories of John Cheever, in film and music, the truth that they contain. He invents America, Córdoba, Kameido: photographs and paintings are set in motion and as they move tell their truths about life and the kinds of love which elude convention and transform the body and heart.

Wilkins is a thrifty story-teller. He builds phrase by phrase, now hesitant, now headlong with desire. His pacing and his renewing courage with traditional forms and shapes make his poems at once accessible and richly unfamiliar.