Penelope Shuttle is a law unto herself. She writes strange, brilliant, sometimes outrageous, funny, sad, poetry, which then suddenly moves one with its utter clarity. This collection, her sixth, has an element of disturbance: the approach of middle age, the growing-up of a daughter, underly the poems, which nevertheless still lead the reader in and out of a world where senses are pristine. In the title-poem, one of several story and dream poems, the poet paints a 'city for Jamie', to please some universal or godlike child. The results of this imaginary poem-building are magnificent.