Britain's only Canal Poet Laureate, Jo Bell's poetry draws on archaeology, narrowboat life and broken hearts. In this warm but ever so faintly cynical selection, she takes inspiration from historic landscapes and heartbreaks, writing of sex, death and friendship in settings from Cappadocia to the Peak District. Through an intriguing range of personae - a shipwright for 'The Shipwright's Love Song', thuggish ducks in 'Oiks' or a spurned partner in 'Advice' - Jo Bell explores the deep friendships which furnish our lives. With one eye on the ancient past, one on the personal past and a glance at a bright future, this is a collection to make you laugh, reflect and remember.