This collection of poetry investigates the nature of both individual and communal responses to landscape, in particular, rivers, coasts and other historical transit routes. The long poem-sequence 'Tideway' is a unique poetic documentation of the decline of the working community of London Watermen during the 1990s closure of the city wharves. Research for this included the creation of an audio archive of interviews recorded afloat and at the Port of London Authority (this archive is now held at the River and Rowing Museum) and the study of various documents held at the London Company of Watermen's Hall. The sequence 'Matchless', a further exploration of the figure of city-river, is a miniature re-working of the 14th-century Pearl poem, and the necessary textual and critical research for this went on to form the basis for the author's current project, a full poetic translation of Pearl (due 2009). The Night Tree was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and the title poem won the Keats-Shelley Prize 2002. Extracts and reviews appeared in the national and literary press, on BBC radio and in journals, and the poem 'No. 3 for Uses of the Thames' was short-listed for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. RAE_import_type : Authored book RAE_uoa_type : English Language and Literature