Boltini gives us a fabulous menagerie of animals with fierce minds of their own, and humans with quandaries.
Whether it's a louse longing for a degree in engineering, Noah having a crap set of tools, crows praying for the deaths of fishermen, or a revolution of stale scones, Boltini handles them all with delightful comic ease.
When he suddenly turns serious, his poems pack a very real poignancy – dealing with the problems of drink, trying to connect with a lost daughter, or the desperate life and death of a young prostitute.
Savour these poems for their quirky joie de vivre, and their insight into what makes us – and an amazing range of his animals – tick.