A long poem of a new kind. In presenting the reader with fictional episodes from the life of one man, it offers an account of the disjunctions and contradictions of modern-day living. Richard Burns has written an epic account of the malaises and compromises of modern life: the price we all of us have to pay for our perceived freedom of the marketplace. The text bristles with outrage, anger, obsession and romance, with passages of a wry, sardonic humor. The poem gives us characters, puzzles, interactions, dialogue, and, above all, drama. We are all products of our own many pasts, even as we try to recreate ourselves anew. The Manager speaks to all of us with a rare compassion and understanding. It mirrors the difficulties of living within the turbulent contradictions of our post-modern inheritance.