Red Ledger

Newfoundland author Mary Dalton’s latest book is more like her 1993 collection, Allowing the Light, than her outstanding 2004 offering, Merrybegot – in fact, there are poems from the earlier book reprinted in this one. ... Read More »

February 27, 2007 | Filed under: Poetry

When Earth Leaps Up

By Anne Szumigalski; Mark Abley, ed.

Publishing a posthumous collection is a tricky proposition for reasons both commercial and artistic. It’s hard enough to sell copies of books by living poets – how much harder, then, when the poet has been ... Read More »

November 6, 2006 | Filed under: Poetry

The Encantadas

By Robert Allen

Montreal-based poet, novelist, publisher, and teacher Robert Allen’s latest book was originally serialized over four chapbooks and 25 years. The title is borrowed from Melville, but an observation by Melville’s contemporary, Poe – “the phrase ... Read More »

November 6, 2006 | Filed under: Poetry

Hitch

By Matthew Holmes

Ask any old sailor worth his salt: the purpose of a hitch is to tie the best possible line – to wrap around an object and cinch down tight. Therein lies the aim of New ... Read More »

October 3, 2006 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Poetry

★ Vermeer’s Light: Poems 1996–2006

By George Bowering

George Bowering’s newest collection covers a decade of the Vancouver poet’s life and work. It was a tumultuous 10 years that saw the painful, lingering death of his wife of 37 years, Angela, his service ... Read More »

October 3, 2006 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Poetry

Play Out the Match

By Michael Knox

Play Out the Match is one of the ballsiest debut collections in recent memory. Populated with barroom brawlers, strippers, dope-smokers, blue-collar workers, and bare-knuckle writers, these poems crackle with a masculine energy and a cocky ... Read More »

July 20, 2006 | Filed under: Poetry

Anatomy of Keys

By Steven Price

Anatomy of Keys is Victoria-based poet and teacher Steven Price’s first book. A poetic biography of Harry Houdini, its closest generic analogues in Canadian literature are Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and ... Read More »

July 20, 2006 | Filed under: Poetry

Book of Longing

By Leonard Cohen

Much of Leonard Cohen’s work (and most of his life) has been characterized by a vacillation between two poles. Cohen has always embraced the dynamic tension between the opposing forces of the holy and the ... Read More »

July 19, 2006 | Filed under: Poetry

Creamsicle Stick Shivs

By John Stiles

The notes in the back of John Stiles’s second poetry collection tell us that “the poems in this book have been performed in clubs and bars and cafés in Toronto and London, England.” This emphasis ... Read More »

July 17, 2006 | Filed under: Poetry

Tacoma Narrows

By Mitchell Parry

With this auspicious debut collection, B.C. writer and teacher Mitchell Parry demonstrates an ear for the richness of language, an earthy, solid poetics, and a keen insight into emotional truths both large and small. Tacoma ... Read More »