Master of Distances consists of a hundred or so prose fragments fluctuating between dream, nightmare and a harsh reality: the bleakness of ageing, and accompanying the loved one through a long and debilitating illness. The continuity of mood and imagery gradually melds the fragments into a single poem. The poet stumbles confusedly as through a labyrinth of feeling and sensation. Who or what is the mysterious master of distances of the title? Time? Language? Oneself? The answer is a radical experiment in poetry and a new departure for this fine lyric poet. "Jordi Doce is one of the three or four living European poets whose work I most treasure. He brings all his faculties to the rich task of being; his voice inhabits the names, not just with wonder, but with new possibilities; [...] he is a companion, not a guide, always present with us, never merely pointing what he thinks might be the way." —John Burnside "One of the most striking elements of We Were Not There is that feeling of collaborative concern, that awareness of commonality, the record of experiences that permits us to recognise our common humanity." —Ian Brinton, Tears in the Fence "Few modern poets are better able to make us rethink our everyday purposes and perceptions." —Brian Morton, PN Review Praise for Master of Distances: "The book is further evidence of Doce's deeply personal lyrical journey, blending realism and metaphysics, an attention to the visible and lived with the imaginary and symbolic, the many faces of emotion with the bristling edges of thought." —Manuel Rico, El Pais

“Jordi Doce is one of the three or four living European poets whose work I most treasure. He brings all his faculties to the rich task of being; his voice inhabits the names, not just with wonder, but with new possibilities; like Machado, on the one hand, and Montale on the other, he is a companion, not a guide, always present with us, never merely pointing what he thinks might be the way.” —John Burnside “Unforgettable poems that, on the verge of tales and fables, drag the reader toward a universe of screened images, like 'pollen clouds in the slant evening light'.” —Antonio Ortega, El Pais

This volume brings together poems from six collections originally published between 1990 and 2011. I have divided the selection into five sections that correspond, broadly, to the separate stages in which they were written. The final and briefest one includes five fragments from Perros en la playa [Dogs on the Beach], a miscellany of prose, poetry and aphorisms that I published in early 2011. In my opinion, a Selected should not solely contain poems that have been often anthologised or singled out for praise by critics and readers. It should give a more or less accurate view of the variety and development of one's output over the years. Therefore, I have not shied away from including some youthful pieces or the odd experiment-not to mention poems for which one feels an immoderate fondness, which no amount of critical scrutiny can ever hope to dispel. (Jordi Doce)