In a telling drama of separation, David Harsent"s News From The Front is a brilliant sequence that uses the voices of several characters to tell the story of a man who has been separated by war from his common-law wife. The poems focus on the powerful emotion elicited by his wife who gives birth to his son while he is away. Hoping that he can one day share his experiences with his son, he sends letters home and keeps a journal, containing in part a bestiary. The woman has such powerful desire that she is at times able to bring the man almost within her reach; their son sees the strength of his mother and begins to view his absent father as a hero.