The laws of Aphrodite are inviolable, but they are also indecipherable; that’s what the many characters of this collection discover and endure—from the mythical Greek Actaeon to the sad sack Lucky whose home is above the bus depot; from the old man who carries rags up the hill to the seal who returns from an adventure beyond the big rock. And interspersed amongst these small town tales are the dialogues carried on between the abstractions that haunt all our lives and metaphors for the experience of being in Aphrodite’s thrall.

John Carroll was born in Buffalo, New York. He immigrated to Canada in 1972. He has received degrees from Wesleyan University, Western Washington University, and The University of British Columbia. He has worked as a house painter, stevedore, busboy, speech writer, stage actor and director, movie extra, composer, free lance writer, and English professor. He is currently chair of the English Department at The University of the Fraser Valley. The Plastic Heart is his second collection.

John Carroll's profile page