The title poem of this collection is set in Murano, home to the Venetian glass-making industry. The alchemical processes of mirror-making, its ’furnaces and transubstantiations, / amalgams of tin and quicksilver’ become a guiding metaphor for the poet. Cityscapes are haunted by memories both personal and historic. Formally inventive, restless, inquisitive, these poems capture our attention by subverting expectations.