Wings of dust

Taz Rahman's 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon' is named after the 1935 jazz standard, and like any great jazz tune - many of which inspire these poems - this collection is full of improvisation, innovation with language, and it demands a quality of listening carefully to the world, of paying attention. Many of these poems are from the perspective of a flaneur, someone who wanders through the city - in this case Cardiff - registering impressions about the people and things observed. This includes a deep fascination for nature as encountered in city parks and on the banks of the Taff as it winds its way through the metropolis.