“An axe-cracking noisiness fills some of these poems, while others are imbued with the hush that comes after a kiss. The stuff of ordinary life inspires an extravagant, yet humane vision: there’s tenderness in the scattershot of minnows, rust blooming on an old Ford, healing in a mother’s hands. And there’s an awareness of rhythm that informs the work as a whole. Songs as much as poems, each of these seeks to exploit the potential of the lyric form.” — 2009 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award Jury (Don Domanski, Jeanette Lynes, and Anne Simpson)