This collection of short prose begins with a real 1945 diary kept in Burma, and Minhinnick telling stories to his mother in her care home. It includes a series of pictures of war-stricken Baghdad, and vignettes about place and travel, dedicated to Jan Morris. On the way we encounter a Middle East island devoted to sustainability, close ups of what clearing a family house reveals, and the writer’s intimately imagined Welsh sand dunes. Minhinnick also watches the Stereophonics in Sydney, mourns the Golan Heights and meets a family of destitute Bedouins. Throughout we encounter the Covid pandemic, threats of extinction, and images of post-apocalyptic life. A breathless epic from one of the leading poets of his generation.