In his third collection of verse, Quicker Than The Eye, Joe Fiorito continues to craft short, sharp poems that define the harder edges of urban life. His principal tools are a photographer's eye for detail, and a musician’s ear for the sound of the human voice. Now, in Quicker Than The Eye, Canada’s poet of the streets turns his gaze inward, writing about the influences of early love, family tragedy, and the search for meaning in a world where “the desolate things are mine.”  A master of spare, razor-sharp language, Fiorito manages to strip sentiment from memory in order to find tenderness and enduring truth on the margins of the city.  He has never written more austerely or more beautifully.

“If I can impart one final message, beyond the usual declarative to read poetry and buy poetry books,” writes Evan Jones in his introduction to The Civilizing Discourse, “it is to listen to poets. The real ones offer wisdom and a perspective at odds with prevalent visions.”

In a series of passionate, enlightening, frank, engaging, and sometimes astonishing conversations, thirteen poets—many acknowledged masters—open up about their writing processes, their childhoods and marriages, their regrets, as well as their hopes for and frustration with poetry. From Norm Sibum describing his affinity with a waitresses and cabbies to Nyla Matuk’s wrenching investigations into the Palestinian side of her family; from Don Coles’s obsession with alternative universes to Robyn Sarah’s praise for discarded things; from Elise Partridge describing her shift in priorities after a cancer diagnosis to Steven Heighton’s interest in remaining childlike, The Civilizing Discourse is not only a highly readable record of the literary scene today, but, in its celebration of language, will appeal to poetry readers and poets alike.

A TONI DAMIANO MYSTERY

Ten years ago, the prestigious suburban community of Beaconsfield, Quebec was shaken by the discovery of the bodies of an ordinary couple in their home. What appeared to be a common murder-suicide—husband kills wife and takes his own life—has baffled two previous investigations. At one point, the son, who had a tumultuous relationship with his father, was considered a suspect. Lieutenant Detective Toni Damiano and her partner, Detective Pierre Matte, attached to the newly-created Cold Case Unit, have reopened the case with their usual confidence and grit. They are met with unexpected challenges and a reality they’ve never had to face before.