Each Christmas, Santa and his vast army of highly trained elves produce gifts and distribute them around the world in one night. However, when one of 600 million children to receive a gift from Santa on Christmas Eve is missed, it is deemed ‘acceptable’ to all but one—Arthur. Arthur Claus is Santa’s misfit son who executes an unauthorised rookie mission to get the last present half way around the globe before dawn on Christmas morning.

The title is that of a long poem by Jack Spicer, composed of short chapters, almost all of which are rendered here. Florence Pazzottu invites it in to the South Alpine village of La Pomme Chinoise (The Chinese Apple) (FID 2019), scattering it to the wind: written on black cardboard or loose sheets, interrupted by Australian admirer’s rock music, recited in turn by the inhabitants of the village who, in perfect harmony with the Californian’s poetry, add their grain of salt, fine or coarse.