Biting My Tongue speaks in different voices from different countries: mainly Ireland, France, and a breakaway republic. In many-layered poems spoken by women, men and animals, Neil Astley challenges fact and ?ction, subverting assumptions of biography and truth, gender and sexuality, change and transformation. Many of the poems, male and female, echo or play with each other. A recurring voice and constant presence in the book is a young Irishwoman, Rebecca Hayes, whose experiences and imagination set up a dialogue within and around the poems.