Cover Blurb: If Water Breathes (Resource Publications, 2019) This collection is a delight for the senses. Lyrical, rhythmic, often subtly rhymed, Monika Lee’s poems ripple in the ear, refreshing amid the aural flatness of a lot of contemporary free verse. Her images are vividly spare, “like a flurry of

Cover Blurb: A Samurai’s Pink House (Inanna, 2017) The poems in this brilliant new collection draw you on a haunting journey through time and Japanese culture. Cherry trees, rice fields, blossoms, moonlight, teardrops of rain and dew evoke a Zen beauty of discipline and quiet obedience. Sensuousness abounds: the

The Witch of the Inner Wood: Collected Long Poems (Goose Lane Editions, 2016) by M. Travis Lane Of course, a review should offer some evaluation of a book. Obviously mine is immensely positive. M. Travis Lane’s imagination, precision, and control of sound and image are as astonishing to me

From my “Double the Pleasure: Heidi Greco’s Practical Anxiety” (Inanna Publications, 2018), The League of Canadian Poets Review. ... the craft of her writing was a joy. It was pure pleasure to see enjambment used sparingly for significant emphasis; stanza divisions that mirrored thought development; descriptions focused to pinpoint exactly

Thanks for dropping by the new location of Poetry Notes, a blog for anyone serious about the art. In it I reflect on assorted elements of craft, as well as why particular Canadian poems stand out for me. At the top of this page, About describes what inspired me to