Zoë Skoulding's vibrant, multi-layered second collection of poetry takes the imagined city as its inspiration, but she is equally open to the suggestions offered by keenly observed details, both of the natural world and of the multiple variations of the built environment, from cathedrals to construction sites.

Mae'r ail gasgliad o gerddi Zoë Skoulding yn defnyddio'r ddinas ddychmygol fel ei sail a'i ysbrydoliaeth, ond mae hefyd yn ymwneud â manion manwl o fyd natur ac adeiladau, o eglwysi cadeiriol i safleoedd adeiladu.

Recently appointed as editor of Poetry Wales, Zoe Skoulding is a research fellow at Bangor University and has been involved in various cross-artform projects. The poems collected in Remains of a Future City reflect her interest in form and space and are sometimes challenging in their experimental structure. I floundered at first, feeling distracted by form as I struggled to access meaning. But this is an essential part of the process with any artform that is seeking to stretch boundaries. Readers who like the comfort of convention might be put off; others will relish the unique voice and multi-layered language expressed in this collection.

Using both form and language to full effect, Skoulding explores the topography not just of urban and rural landscapes but of our responses to them. ‘Forest with A to Z of Cardiff’, ‘Preselis with Brussels Street Map’ and ‘Llanddwyn Beach with Directions for Copenhapen’ are striking examples of a deep mapping that challenges the common perception of rural and urban as being in opposition to each other. Here, they are so powerfully interconnected that they merge and become indivisible: “skimming/over rue de l’Empereur/tread softly on the streets the sheep trails/between bird call and bleat echo/a street folds across two languages here and there”. The great human endeavour of mapping everything – from individual atoms to the entire cosmos, from our personal genealogies to the history of the universe, from the physical to the psychological – reflects our desire for a shared language, our search for meaning and direction, and our need to know that we are both unique and an essential part of something greater than ourselves: “Everything’s here at once, /[...] Specific histories/don’t fade but circle in a constant outward movement”.

Skoulding’s dense, diverse and highly contemporary poems deserve many readings.

Suzy Ceulan Hughes

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.