This is a collection of homo-erotic verse on both personal and broader social themes. In three parts, the book opens with formal poems about key figures in past gay culture; the second consists of 12-line poems progressing from desire, through consummation, to loss and the renewal of desire. The third part contains mainly longer, narrative poems in a variety of forms, exploring themes of masculinity and power, love and hatred, youth and ageing. The book integrates the author's celebrations of male physicality into a context of repression and violence.