Stressing the Essential

John O'Loughlin's second collection of poetry, written nearly ten years after 'Dosshouse Blues', is less formal overall and more orientated towards free verse whilst being consistently transcendentalist in relation to his by-then-fledgling theories of the post-human. For all their stylistic similarity, however, these poems still vary enormously in length and subject-matter, the longest and arguably best, viz. 'Dispelling a Futuristic Myth', being left till last, as a fitting conclusion to a new chapter in the author's approach to poetry.