Verse-like fiction and/or novelistic lyrics, a seminal poet’s latest book dazzles our reviewer: “It’s a dream of touching people. Everyone. And the world. Which is a person, too. Even bill’s drawings are touch. His paintings are made out of gentle finger strokes on canvas. Through touch, bill makes a world.” —Harold Rhenisch reviews th buk uv lost passwords 1, by bill bissett (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2025) $24.95 / 9781772016932
A quarter-century career retrospective commands attention. Our reviewer concludes that the book “is a remarkable oeuvre that includes poems of great beauty that intertwine light and dark, fire and water and earth and dust or ashes, and all these poems so magnificently held together by love.” —gillian harding-russell reviews Two Songs: Selected Poems 2000-2025, by Russell Thornton (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2026) $26.96 / 9781998526574
In an appealing, ruminative collection of “smart stuff,” a poet looks to own remote past, as well as a city’s past, present, and (possible) future. In imagining and telling new stories, the poetry works to challenge presumptions embedded in colonial history. —Harold Rhenisch reviews Inventing What We Need to Know, by W.H. New (Oakville: Rock’s Mills Press, 2025) $20.00 / 9781772443240
Venerable poet “delivers an impressive thirteenth poetry book,” “a collection that is not only evocative and visceral but masterfully precise, honouring its namesake (a reference to the formerly common training routine of figure skaters to practice control, precision, and balance).” —Brooke Lee reviews Compulsory Figures, by John Barton (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $20.00 / 9781773861661
Memorable debut poetry collection offers “poetry of the ordinary” while also examining masculinity and personal ghosts. —Harold Rhenisch reviews Little Bit Die, by Jason Emde (Barrie: Bolero Bird, 2023) $20.00 / 9781775330073