Apprehensions of Van Gogh

The settings for David Pratt's poetry are as diverse as their content and form, including Canada, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Israel, France, Norway, Spain, and the isles of Greece. Certain themes recur: war is one of them, reflecting the poet's childhood under German bombers in wartime England. Another theme is art and artists, celebrating the work of the Canadian Fred Varley, the Czech Jakub Schikaneder, the Norwegian Edvard Munch, and the Dutch van Gogh. Other poets and writers are memorialized: Irving Layton, Al Purdy, Isaac Babel, Andre Frenaud. Interspersed among these pieces are personal poems that record the hearts journey across the decades."