is the new poem sequence by Peter Abbs. In this collection, he traces a recurrent movement from autobiography to myth from concern with place and identity to a preoccupation with persona (mask) and myth a movement from the heart to the imagination and back to the heart. Using the lives of characters from history and mythology-painters philosophers poets-he explores the creative experiences of a variety of men and women. these poems are placed in a wider context by the inclusion here of poems that demonstrate the full range of Abbs' work. This book confirms his stature as one of our leading contemporary poets.