In his latest volume, poet Alan Whitaker explores the tyranny of ageing, the warping of memory and shifting distortions of time.

He hooks these themes together by reflecting on the altered landscape of his youth in Bradford.

It is a journey of discovery in which he exposes the changing relationship he has with himself as he forges through middle-age.

It is not a book of nostalgia, more a well-observed tapestry of remembrance for what is past and what, at the same time, remains, both physically and spiritually.

He visits the locations of his youth and in sifting through the detritus of say a derelict site, he challenges those jolted memories of the past with the tangible nature of the present.

The language is rich and he deliberately uses similar words and phrases as motifs to bind all 38 works.

It is Whitaker's first volume since 1999 and he demonstrates a growing confidence and "maturity" in his writing style and subject matter.

  • Within the Within is available at £6.95 from local bookshops and from publisher Redbeck Press, 24 Aireville Road, Frizinghall.