ART REVIEWby BART GAZZOLA Michael Snowat the Art Gallery of Hamilton There’s the story, then there’s the real story, then there’s the story of how the story came to be told. Then there’s what you leave out of the story. Which is part of the story too. [– Margaret Atwood, from MaddAddam] One does not … Continue reading Art Review: Bart Gazzola / Michael Snow
BOOK REVIEW by RICHARD VAN HOLST SQUALL: POEMS IN THE VOICE OF MARY SHELLEY ANCASTER, ONTARIO REVIEWS TRURO, NOVA SCOTIA Squall: Poems in the Voice of Mary Shelley by CHAD NORMAN [Hamilton: Guernica Editions, 2020, $20.00. Illustrations by judith S bauer.] Chad Norman, a Canadian poet from Truro, Nova Scotia, has been publishing poetry since … Continue reading Book Review: Richard Van Holst / Chad Norman
BOOK REVIEW by CARL WATTS POEMS WITHOUT ORGANS WUHAN REVIEWS TORONTO As Far as You Know by A.F. MORITZ [Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2020, $19.95] In his afterword to Editing Moritz: Correspondence between Shane Neilson and A.F. Moritz during the Editing of Now That You Revive (2007), Moritz compares his writing process with that … Continue reading Book Review: Carl Watts / A.F. Moritz
BOOK REVIEW by AIDAN CHAFE ROBERT COLMAN’S DEMOCRATICALLY APPLIED MACHINE BURNABY REVIEWS NEWMARKET Democratically Applied Machine by ROBERT COLMAN [Windsor: Palimpsest Press, 2020, SALE: $15.16] In his third collection of poems, Democratically Applied Machine, Robert Colman explores industrial and domestic landscapes, as well as his personal identity, amid his father’s onset of Alzheimer’s dementia. … Continue reading Book Review: Aidan Chafe / Robert Colman
BOOK REVIEWS by JOHN NYMAN ACROSS TIME, STYLE, AND GENRE, VIA VANCOUVER ALEX LESLIE’S Vancouver for Beginners [Toronto: Book*hug Press, 2019, $12.99 – $21.00] MATTHEW WALSH’S These are not the potatoes of my youth [Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions • icehouse poetry, 2019, $19.95] bill bissett’s breth / th treez uv lunaria: selektid rare n nu … Continue reading Book Reviews: Nyman / Leslie / Walsh / bissett
BOOK REVIEW by JIM NASON TORONTO REVIEWS VICTORIA QUEER POSITIONS, NAKED PROSE: THE VULNERABLE WE JOHN BARTON’S We Are Not Avatars: Essays, Memoirs, Manifestos [Windsor: Palimpsest Press, 2019, SALE: $15.96] In 2007, along with Billeh Nickerson, John Barton edited Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay Male Poets. At the time, standing with my … Continue reading Book Review: Jim Nason / John Barton
BOOK REVIEWS by GARY BARWIN FOLKTALES, TREES AND EMPTY BOWLS: HAMILTON REVIEWS NEW BRUNSWICK MATTHEW GWATHMEY’S Our Latest in Folktales [Brick Books, 2019, $20.00] SANDRA BUNTING’S Identified in Trees [Marram Press, 2015, $14.99] M. TRAVIS LANE’S A Tent, A Lantern, An Empty Bowl [Palimpsest Press, 2019, SALE: $15.16] Matthew Gwathmey’s first book, Our Latest in … Continue reading Book Reviews: Barwin / Gwathmey / Bunting / M. Travis Lane
BOOK REVIEW by JAMES M. FISHER INEVITABILITY AND EXILE AS ARCHIVE: MIRAMICHI REVIEWS HAMILTON PAUL LISSON’S The Perfect Archive [Oakville: Guernica Editions, 2019, $20.00] Paul Lisson’s The Perfect Archive is an unusual work in that he uses his professional skills as a librarian and archivist to create a work of mystique that is strange and … Continue reading Book Review: James M. Fisher / Paul Lisson
BOOK REVIEWS by MADELINE BASSNETT LAYERED TRANSFORMATIONS: LONDON REVIEWS OTTAWA MICHAEL DENNIS’ Bad Engine: New + Selected Poems [Vancouver: Anvil, 2017, $28.00] JENNY HAYSOM’S Dividing the Wayside [Kingsville: Palimpsest, 2018, SALE PRICE: $15.16] DOMINIK PARISIEN’S We, Old Young Ones [Victoria: Frog Hollow, 2019, $14.00] If Ottawa poets Michael Dennis, Jenny Haysom, and Dominik Parisien are … Continue reading Book Reviews: Bassnett / Dennis / Haysom / Parisien
BOOK REVIEW by MATTHEW GWATHMEY FINDING THE LYRIC IN THE CRUCIALLY: FREDERICTON REVIEWS HAMILTON GARY BARWIN’S For It Is a PLEASURE and a SURPRISE to Breathe: new & selected POEMS [Hamilton: Wolsak & Wynn, 2019, $25.00] Flipping through this book to peer at what lay inside, I immediately knew I was in for more than … Continue reading Book Review: Matthew Gwathmey / Gary Barwin
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