‘Bale Fire’ is a book in three cycles. The first explores the darker side of communities in decline. The middle is a transposition of elements and characters of the Odyssey to a Scottish hill farm and its neighbours. The final part looks at the idea of harvest and loss. Jim Carruth offers here both a celebration and an elegy. The poems in this collection address the themes of our time: war, friendship, honesty, violence, humanity and love.