An updated and expanded volume of poetry by the provocative, and often hilarious, poet Peter Finch. It also included many poems from subsequent collections. By the author of Real Cardiff and Real Cardiff 2.

Cyfrol estynedig a diwygiedig o gerddi gan y bardd pryfoclyd a difyr Peter Finch. Ceir hefyd gerddi wedi'u dethol o'i gasgliadau mwy diweddar. Gan awdur Real Cardiff a Real Cardiff2.

This selection samples the poet's work from 1987 to the present and contains a wide variety of styles including many experiments with form. Peter Finch is well known for his performance of poetry and his continuing use of Dadaist techniques, 'found' poems, 'concrete' and computer-manipulated material, which has earned him the reputation of being the leading avant-garde poet in Wales.

Antibodies (which, in 1997, gathered together his most innovative work of the previous ten years) is well represented here, as is the bizarre 'Demons' project Spe ell. He uses these techniques for satire – the mocking of bureaucracy in 'Letter’, 'Form' and the bravura `Words beginning with 'A' from the government's Welsh Assembly White Paper'; bitter parody in 'Young'. In 'Clatter' the constant rearrangement of almost the same elements captures a hesitant adolescent love story. In the extracts from '500 Cobbings' and 'The Cheng Man Ching Variations' he displays an exuberant sense of fun. This is also evident in 'Kipper on the Lips' and 'Cookery Lesson' where he plays with food/sex double entendres.

The selection also presents many pieces in his more straightforward, anecdotal style. They range from the domestic chaos of 'Roofer' and the hilarious 'The Tao of Dining' to moving sketches of family affection, ageing parents and rescued children. The delicate touches of humour and tenderness in 'The Only Book Left in the House' and the recreation of a violent clash of experiences in 'No Bike' I found particularly haunting.

Overall, however, the impression left by the selection is disillusionment, bitterness and frustration. The poems of his life as a bookseller are of boredom and thievery; teaching is tedious and depressing; publishing and even writing is frustrating and ultimately hollow (though still driven as he reveals in `Written Out'). The humorous bite of the poems dealing with Welshness is clever but contemptuous – circling around the clichés of mountains, sheep, R.S. Thomas and speaking/ not speaking the language. Yet in 'Out at the Edge' and 'The River' there is a much more subtle mix of emotions which I felt was under-represented by the selection.

At its heart there seems to be a struggle between his desire to be truly innovative and his persisting with experimental forms and techniques which, in the personal memoir 'Nothing is New', he shows have been around since the 50/60s. Is freshness to be captured by a technical trick? The intense final section of 'Instead of Writing' and 'How' give a glimpse of his endeavour to ‘parse fragments of reality out of the fog'.

The flavour of this selection is Peter Finch's choice and there is much to enjoy and explore in it, but also perhaps some regret for his concentration on dark and dismissive comedy and pure patterning, over his capacity to capture the subtler shades of human experience.

Caroline Clark

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.