This selection of poems by Peter Olds gathers a greater sampling than his 1972-2001 selected poems (It Was a Tuesday Morning, Hazard Press, 2004) as well as work from collections published since then, and twenty-four previously uncollected poems. It includes a number of the celebrated longer poems of the 1970s and 1980s which were left out of the Hazard selection, such as Freeway, Lady Lust revisiting the Great Psychiatric Rock & Roll Nostalgia Story, Beethoven's guitar, Notes on State Highway Number One, After the music and After looking for Broadway. An introduction by Ian Wedde fits Olds into a national and international context, then focuses on the "mindfulness" of the poet's vision, from his early immersion in the conditions of addiction and mental illness, to his humorous, compassionate and expanding sense of relationship, and his awareness "not just of the present moment but of the consciousness that focuses the poet's attention."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-268) and index of titles.