Pearl is an alter ego of the poet: shes a character who observes the minutiae around her and whose thoughts are a pleasure to follow. This pamphlet follows Pearl as she rollicks around, making her way through a townscape similar but not identical to the too-small-to-be-cities of Birds 70s & 80s childhood. Pearl may be a detective of the best existentialist type. She collects clues - as answers to the deepest questions about our most secret desires, our innermost motivations - in the film-noirish locations of the deserted hotel, the empty lido, the basement club, the chill seaside restaurant. Pearl inhabits the recognisable world and is always apart from it. She shops, commutes, breakfasts, buys a haircut. But the material world will not stay still and things do not remain their one true self. How could they when there is no such thing?.