From one of the most prolific and engaged book reviewers in Canada over the past 15 years, this collection of essays and reviews showcases the literary insight of rob mclennan. The works of such Canadian poets as George Bowering, Margaret Christakos, and Barry McKinnon are addressed and analyzed, as is the status of Canadian poetry as a whole. Mclennan's own investigations into the craft of writing are uncovered as well. Strikingly innovative and refreshingly communal, this compilation works as a whole to demonstrate how mainstream Canadian literature can be reconciled with the art of fringe authors.

rob mclennan currently lives in Ottawa. The author of fourteen trade poetry collections in Canada, Ireland, and England, he has published poetry, fiction, interviews, reviews, and columns in over two hundred publications in fourteen countries and in four languages, and is the author of Ottawa: The Unknown City (Arsenal Pulp Press). He is the editor/publisher of above/ground press and the long-poem magazine stanzas (both founded in 1993), the online critical journal www.poetics.ca (with Ottawa poet Stephen Brockwell), and the Ottawa poetry annual ottawater (www.ottawater.com).