Crocodiles and obelisks are ancient symbols of empire. The poems in Jamie McKendrick s astonishing new collection sift the debris of power and range from Mussolini s Italy and Franco s Spain to the Belgian Congo and to the Roman, the Austro-Hungarian and British empires. But crocodiles and obelisks are also terms used for newspaper obituaries - for tributes which either monumentalize the dead or shed false tears for them. Crocodiles & Obelisks is McKendrick s most individual work to date, and experiments with different ways of remembering, offering conclusions that are both cunning and drôle.