Iced Water

Many of John Unrau's lyrics evoke fleeting moments of joy and grief in a harsh and barren landscape. Empathy with the lives of refugee ancestors on the Canadian prairies inspires many of these poems. Others, dealing with historical figures and various contemporary annoyances, are enlivened by a quirky offbeat sense of humor. Wordsworth is confronted by the cell phone; a television newscaster emerges as the priestess of an ancient Greek oracle; Andy Warhol's soup can becomes an object of lust; a murderous fish converts to New Age spirituality. This first collection contains poems based on a wide variety of subjects, expressed in many tones and styles.