Water Mirrors was inspired by Nicholas Powell's 'enchanting and disorientating' experience of moving to Finland. His poems circle intimacy, illusions, and the task of reconciling the many facets of experience. It is concerned with fluctuating perceptions, and with the relationship of language to meaning and aesthetics. Subjects range from the personal to the political, to art and nature. Tonally, it is by turns stark, playful, tender and ironic.