Damnatio Memoriae opens with an autobiographical sequence of poems in which he evokes post and present loves, the urban landscape of London, and the hidden beauties of the Lea Valley. They are all occasions that point towards the reflections to come on the sacred dimension of love and the evil that arises when this dimension is lost. These reflections become a springboard into the mam section of the book, in which Barker draws upon Christian. Jewish, Muslim and Ancient Near Eastern traditions to chart the search of the soul for faith in the face of cynicism, cruelty corruption, and despair. Damnatio Memoriae is in the highest European tradition of St John of the Cross or the "terrible sonnets" of Gerard Manley Hopkins. It is a salutary reminder that we ignore our spiritual needs at our peril.