Using water as a contemplative device, this anthology examines themes of war, womanhood, time, and the environment. Individual poems focus on a range of topics--from the seemingly unremarkable contents of a bottle of spring water to the more global issue of rising ocean levels. Rain, drought, flood, thirst, rivers, and oceans inspire this thought-provoking exploration of the relationship between water and language.

Gillian Clarke is a poet and a writer whose works include Collected Poems and Making the Beads for the Dead. She tutors creative writing at the University of Glamorgan and is the president and founder of Ty Newydd, a national writers' center in Wales. In 2008 she was appointed the National Poet of Wales.