I'm not even sure how or whether it's appropriate to review a collection of poems, other than whether or not I liked them, and that's only relevant if you know how your reading tastes compare to mine. I don't read a lot of poetry, but enjoy the odd ones I come across from time to time. In this case, I can mostly say I didn't like them, or at least not the poetical style in which they were written, but at the same time I could appreciate the raw emotional content that went into writing some of them. In the same way that many a good (country) song has been created out of heartbreak, many of these poems are desperately sad, and at the same time empowering as it's clear the author has (finally) managed to overcome the hurt and move on with their life continuing to enjoy their hobby, or has a very vivid imagination. Sadly I know of a few situations where one side of a relationship could never return to an activity they enjoyed, and caving is a brutally honest sport that gets under your skin, I couldn't imagine ever giving it up for anybody- and that too is what these poems are about. The freeform verse doesn't read easily to me, I prefer a bit more rigid structure in poetry, but perhaps that too is a metaphor for the nature of caves and life, you never quite know what is around the next corner.

The description of the caving passages are not how I have experienced them, but there are many places I haven't yet explored! ( )