'In Four Refrains, John Watson has invented a kaleidoscope of glittering facets. A curious incident from the life of the Surrealist Magritte; a sequence in four parts which won the Blake Prize for Poetry; an extended tribute to the poet Wislawa Szymborska, the cigarette-smoking Nobel Prizewinner, who left a remarkably small body of work; and, finally, a second amusing incident involving a work by the modernist artist, Cy Twombly. Each of these Refrains demonstrates Watson’s verve and readiness to explore untrodden ways.'
(Publication summary)
