In Anna Jackson's fifth collection of poetry, a rich and leafy life closes in on the New Zealand poet. Scenarios from home and work join fairy-tale tropes in these multifaceted poems that preoccupy themselves with thickets of language and other tangles and examine the relationship between "I" and "you." Venturing into the realm of academia, the zoo, and a pool hall, this compilation also visits the sites of folktales, stories, and dreams. With surprising twists on what would normally be seen as commonplace, these clever poems explore the pleasure of wordplay while treading the path less followed.

Anna Jackson is a professor of English at Victoria University of Wellington and the author of Catullus for Children, The Gas Leak, The Long Road to Teatime, and The Pastoral Kitchen.