Informed in part by Irish ballad metre and its criss-cross assonances, these poems contemplate the structure of authority and language.

Opera Et Cetera comprises four sequences including 'Letters from the Alphabet' and 'Opera' which is based on the radio operator's code. As distorting mirrors of each other, they question the way we tell stories all the time. Rhyme itself fuels these experiments in narrative.

'Et Cetera' reinvigorates the vocabulary of Latin tags, while, 'Alibi' consists of versions from the Romanian of Stefan Augustin Doinas, whose investigations of powers-that-be find parallels in contemporary Ireland.

In its obsessive musical sweep, the book is a tour de force. It is also, sometimes, very funny.