The poems in Discoveries, written over the last four years, respond to the uncertainties of our time with an unpredictability of their own. Tim Dooley makes use of varied, sometimes arbitrary, structures to explore possibilities of expression. Some poems extemporise along lines of linguistic fantasy or celebrate innovators of modernism, while others observe contemporary experience with acuity. A sobering central section, structured in 100-word prose paragraphs, revisits a source of shame at the heart of our history.

'A la lumiere d'hiver' (1977) is a central work in the writing of the Swiss French poet Philippe Jaccottet (1925-2021). Written in middle age, it forms a bridge between the poet's intricate early lyrics and his more expansive and meditative later work. Starting from a direct confrontation with the raw facts of mortality, its three poem-sequences strip away further layers of illusion until a glimmer of meaning starts to appear in the 'winter light' of the landscape of the Drome area of northern Provence, where Jaccottet made his home from 1953 until the end of his life. Tim Dooley's translation, 'In Winter Light', is the product of a long relationship with the original, which he first read at the time of its publication. His English version mirrors the tentative, scrupulous exploration of being he finds in Jaccottet's French, both its hesitancies and circular movements and, finally, its 'unblinking eyes'.

The Sound We Make Ourselves brings together a selection of writing from forty-five years and includes thirteen poems published in book form for the first time.

A brilliant collection of poems exploring ideas of sadness and courage, from the time of the Arthurian legends to Brexit, with Dooley's characteristic poise, wit, intelligence and compassion.