What do animal dens have in common with mathematics? Lairs is darkly suggestive of secretive havens and shelters, but also frames the poem as an equation. This collection is both a kind of nest and a beautiful accumulation of dense detail. Lairs also highlights the contrast between noble aspirations and a messy reality, the poems’ atmospheres being sometimes borrowed from the fervid pandemic lockdowns. The innovative style is daring and embraces complex music. Post-Brexit life is also a subtle strand in these poems, as they deflate and challenge establishment conservatism.
