This extended sequence of poems explores eccentric fathers and other adult relationships through an examination of patriarchal values that includes such figures as the 19th-century explorer David Livingstone, Irish patriot Roger Casement, and the poet's own father. The second part of this collection includes a long narrative poem that celebrates the relationship between two 17th-century Englishmen—a diplomat and a doctor. Inspired by portraits hanging in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the verses detail their passionate and erudite life together in Constantinople.