Room of Thieves

A six toed cat skeleton, a lesson in boxing technique and a poem in the shape of a phallus. These are just some of the things you can expect from Cleland's second collection, "Room of Thieves". Through its myriad settings, from the bemonstered waters of Loch Morar to the London commuter belt to the Amazon, this book is concerned with the relationship between our internal and external landscapes and explores how our attempts to control the world around us betray our desires and prejudices. Blank verse, free verse, prose poetry and concrete sit happily alongside each other in this surprising and varied collection. The poems in their different forms are united by Cleland's sinister sense of magic, which breathes life into the people and creatures that inhabit them: they are haunted by the ghosts of faeries and deerhounds, the spectre of an unreachable internet and the patchwork past of Machu Picchu. The result is work that deftly treads the line between the serious and the comic, characterised by compelling imagery, fresh conceits and strong narrative voices. This is an accessible, enjoyable collection from a poet with sharp eyes and a dark wit.