Rolling Over the Bones and the Running Through Poems is a continental collection spanning three years during which Hughes journeyed from subterranean London to west America and Australia before returning to the author's native backstreets of North West England. The desire to explore old wildernesses, the decayed legacy of the British Empire, and the complexities of human relationships are yoked together with phlegmatic candour and curious piety. Whether passing through deserted small towns of the American interior or sailing on the Great Barrier Reef, dreams of citizenship and discovery of a sense of place dog Hughes as he zooms to another vanishing point over the horizon.