The poems in this collection are undoubtedly well-written, the language is smooth and clear. But despite feeling as if I should, I didn't connect emotionally with a lot of them - they were poems to admire rather than love. Even the libretto on a horrible (true) tragedy in El Salvador was something I knew to be horrifying rather than felt.

Perhaps it's because so many of the poems are religious? I'm a fairly hardened sceptic myself, and though I certainly can have emotional reactions to lovely religious verse, there seems to be a higher bar there for me. It's no coincidence, I think, that my favourite poem of the lot, "In Tonga", was about bats. I tend to respond better, in poetry, to descriptions of the concrete - and especially of the natural world - so that may be something of an explanation. Other readers will no doubt differ in their preferences, so if you particularly enjoy spiritual poetry then a lot of this collection will likely resonate well for you.