There’s lots to like about Leslie Crawford’s poems. To begin with, she’s interested in ‘other lands’ and going through portals to strange places. Here, you might catch a vision of the past, strangely clad folk called elves or even a man sitting at a desk who looks oddly familiar… Is he a seer, an alchemist or maybe someone closer to home?

While the author is clearly intrigued by the dark side and the lure of iniquity, she is also at ease telling a fable (‘Night and Day’) and taking an amusing dig at witches and modern chemistry (‘The Pot’). Ships and the sea play an important part in the poet’s stock of imagery and the title piece, ‘White Horse’, sees the ocean as a force doing battle with the shore, just as the volcano in ‘Fire Mountain’ poses a threat to vegetation and mankind. Altogether, it’s an exciting, highly imaginative collection, with unusual turns of phrase.