These poems, written over a period of two years, are not an attempt at a psychology of women. Their subjects range in age from one to forty-five. The metres employed are meant to reflect the attitudes of the subjects as felt by me. Some of the matter of the poems is simply reflection without taking any attitude into account. I have aimed at a simplicity of language. If the poems suffer from being sentimental, romantic or vicious, it is because I am no longer afraid of these emotions. In the main they were written out of love.
                               — Michael Hartnett, 1988