Earworm, the second book from acclaimed poet Nick Thran, expertly combines wicked cleverness, adept craftsmanship and a uniquely insightful perspective in an entertaining yet substantial tour de force. Building on the success of his debut, Thran has enhanced his compelling pop culture rhythms and distinctive voice with bolder formal experimentation and greater poetic maturity.

This eclectic collection takes in topics ranging from cartoons to Caravaggio to cicadas, expressed in a comparable variety of poetic forms. Despite this diversity, the book is unified by its perfectly balanced blend of thoughtful observation laced with Thran's characteristically whimsical sense of humour.

Earworm is also interspersed with several poems inspired by works of art in a variety of media. Whether he's reinterpreting Picasso's Blue Period, encapsulating a moment from The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones, or lending a narrative to one of Dennis Oppenheim's conceptual sculptures, Thran is able to distill the essence of the original while adding a fresh twist.

Nick Thran is the author of one previous collection of poetry, Every Inadequate Name (Insomniac Press, 2006). His poems have appeared in numerous publications across Canada, including: Arc, The Best Canadian Poetry 2010, Geist, Maisonneuve, Matrix, The National Post and The Walrus. Since growing up in western Canada, southern Spain and southern California, Nick has spent the last few years living in Toronto, Ontario and Brooklyn, New York.

Nick Thran's profile page

• Winner, Trillium Book Award for Poetry

I submit to the fair-minded reader that coolness ... has never really been a going concern for Canadian poets. In recent years, there have been a modest clutch ... who really pull it off. Nick Thran is one of them. His poems are cool. Genuinely, impossibly cool.
--Michael Lista, a href= http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/04/22/michael-lista-on-poetry-being-effortlessly-cool-vs-being-the-next-al-purdy/#more-31489>National Post