Year: 2007

Busy, busy, busy — and in need of reviewers

By Skoopchap
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. New reviews from Jason Rotstein, Maria Scala, Rob Taylor, and Shane Neilson will be posted shortly. In the mean time, I have 80+ books, chapbooks, and audio books sitting on my shelf waiting to be reviewed. If you’re interested in reviewing for the site and live in Canada, send a sample of your writing and a brief bio to ebarstad [at] gmail [dot] com.
Near Cooper Marsh by Jesse Ferguson

Near Cooper Marsh by Jesse Ferguson

By Skoopchap
Review by Rob Taylor The simple fact that this review is written for an online audience greatly increases the chances that you will have already heard of Fredericton (formerly Ottawa)-based poet Jesse Ferguson. Amongst the plethora of poets whose work has found a strong footing in online and small-press publications, Ferguson is near the top of the list in both quantity and quality. To attest to this one need look no further than the acknowledgements page of his chapbook Near Cooper Marsh, which notes that the fifteen poems in the collection have been published in no fewer than ten small-press magazines. It is therefore in keeping that Near Cooper Marsh itself has been published online (http://www.fridaycircle.uottawa.ca/ferguson/ii-6-main.html) as part of the
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Transversals for Orpheus & the untitled 1-13 by Garry Thomas Morse

By Skoopchap
Review by Rob Mclennan. One of the first series of LINEbooks produced through Vancouver’s West Coast Line magazine, Garry Thomas Morse’s Transversals for Orpheus & the untitled 1-13 works from what Erin Mouré called “transelation,” working poems by Pessoa into her own Sheep’s Vigil by a Fervent Person (Toronto ON: House of Anansi Press, 2001). In the back of his first collection of poetry, writing “for a case of textual influenza (antidote included): Sielger, Spicer, Blaser, okay Rilke too…” into his acknowledgments, he references a number of source materials for his pieces, including Talonbooks publisher Karl Sielger’s own translation of Rilke’s complete Sonnets to Orpheus (Vancouver BC: Talonbooks, 1977), recently included in the first publication of this same series, companions
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Sporatic Growth by Jay MillAr

Sporatic Growth by Jay MillAr

By Skoopchap
Review by Rob Mclennan. B ebb uterus larvae gesture in it is an alley in it is alive laying redistributed i shed great by dared kinetic relish old low street change in gifts think converting excrement larvae gestures dead is how even if their content varies exam in ate a thread distance health inside part ice culinary lying oval void continues vexed the inside holds lower could never express holy low wing After years of producing work in books and chapbooks, it seems as though Toronto poet and publisher Jay MillAr is coming into his own, much the way Prince George poet Rob Budde has over the past few publications out of his own British Columbia north, both working in
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Merrybegot by Mary Dalton

Merrybegot by Mary Dalton

By Skoopchap
Review by Melanie Maddix. When I first read Mary Dalton’s Merrybegot (Audio Book | Print Version), I was immediately taken in by its musicality. This book loves language. The idioms of Newfoundland take some getting used to, and I must confess that I still don’t know what they all mean. For the most part it can be guessed at by the context, or if you are the studious type, Dalton provides a web link for The Dictionary of Newfoundland English. A few poems are taken directly from the dictionary. Dalton formed “She” from a usage example for saucy: Was as good a gun As ever was put to your face, And she could kill anywhere. All you had to do
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