The poems in Tracery enact a lyric condensation. Often written in transit: on the bus, on a bicycle, on foot, in the endless to and fro of work life – they are primarily governed by the music of reason: “the ear’s judgement” (Joachim du Bellay), the “natural music” of poetry (Eustache Deschamps), “music at the heart of thinking” (Fred Wah). These poems barge into the arena of classic and modernist literary works, incorporating and reworking them – translating them – with little regard for what is generally considered genius, and with an ever-present critique, but also with a constantly renewable sense of wonder and humility. Written in a time of plagues, through dreams and daily life, these are poems to be enjoyed by anyone who observes events occurring in time, and then wonders at them.