Zoo is Tobias Hillrs"s third collection of poems. It shows the growing maturity of a voice already distinctive three years ago, when his first collection was noted for its ls"grand irony and playful humour, with episodes of tenderness and even charmrs". Hillrs"s poems combine narrative impetus with musical lyricism. Influenced by the poetry of Japan and the paintings of Edward Hopper, they are full of intense sound, smell, and visions, Often through a nocturnal eye, Hill describes an urban-pastoral landscape, full of the greenhouse luxuriance of city flora, fauna and humanity. "Hillrs"s special territory, in poetry and prose, is the ls"urban-pastoralrs" hellip; his native North London is transformed, with many deftly dark touches, into an uneasy realm of the imagination. Hill clearly appreciated Simon Armitagers"s storytelling persona; he also drew upon observation of the natural world in ways associated with Ted Hughes. Much of his imagery is by turns delicately ls"Japanesers", or reminiscent of the heyday of Craig Rainers"s ls"Martianrs" style. Hill has a romantic dimension in his work that is all his own. As a young man with an intense curiosity about the world, his work is full of sensual images, vignettes of city life and romance hellip; these are poems of flirtation and desire." -contemporarywriters.co.uk "The closeup detail taken directly from nature, then skewed through 90iexcl; to give the reader something completely new, even unique hellip; with this third collection, Hill promises to be a real force in poetry, displaying an utterly contemporary understanding of how nature continues to work." -Poetry Review "There is a fin de siegrave;cle decadence about them hellip; not least in their brightly coloured diction, their luxuriant descriptiveness, their louche postures." -Poetry Wales "Superb conjurations of place." -Adam Mars Jones "Compassionate and intelligent hellip; so full of action and interest and that brings alive such an array of people and places, that it is difficult to believe they sprang from the pen of one writer." -Rachel Cusk