Bouma Shapes: Shorter Poems 1974-2002

by Steve McCaffery

Steve McCaffery takes his title, Bouma Shapes, from a term modern psychologists use for the adoption of lowercase letters, which "contributed, in conjunction with word separation, to giving each word a distinct image"— Paul Saenger. Bouma Shapes is a wealth of distinct words, filled with juxtaposed images and explorations in form that create lines such "Exits/ a simple typo for exist the manner which the mongoose started minus syllabus." Steve McCaffery is an experimental Canadian poet associated with the Language Poetry movement, which is often considered exclusively American, and a member of Four Horsemen, a group which creates and performs innovative sound poetry. McCaffery teaches at York University, Toronto.

66 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Steve McCaffery is the author of over twenty-five books of poetry and criticism. He has twice been awarded the Gertrude Stein Award for innovative poetry and twice shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. His poems have been published in more than a dozen countries. A long-time resident of Toronto, he is currently the David Gray Professor of Poetry and Letters, University at Buffalo.