Perfection

by Patrick Warner

Patrick Warner's Perfection -- the follow-up to his award-winning Mole -- makes a carnival of our most potent and dangerous obsessions. A factory outlet sells designer human parts at cut-rate prices, a midlife crisis becomes a cleansing ritual, a chocolate-chip pancake stands accused at trial, and the predatory voice of anorexia speaks to a transfixed audience. In descending the rabbit hole of this wildly imaginative collection, we find ourselves amid a field of engagement where destructive ideals of beauty, politics, art, romantic love, and spirituality are ambushed by roguish parody, acerbic satire, life-affirming laughter, and a hard-won pragmatism. And while Warner's trademark playfulness and formal ingenuity remain intact, his classic arms-length objectivity gives ground to a private and autobiographical directness of style often evaded in his earlier work. In Perfection, where death is certain and certainty is hell-bent on death, Warner refuses to rest on his laurels, continuing to build on his reputation as one of the most respected voices in Canadian poetry.

Genres: Poetry

ebook

First published September 28, 2012

Reviews

[Andrea Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfection is the perfect title for this collection of poems that tug at the emotional hearts and minds of the readers as the poet shows us the tangled knots and the crosses one must endure through the journey we are all on. Situations that may indeed be familiar are translated into words that the souls who read this will understand.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly really great! At times it was hard to understand but I blame that on myself. Pretty relatable.

[Martin Ainsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book. Funny and poignant, but never sentimental. Warner's masterly control of formal elements is easy to overlook, because the poems are such a joy to read. A poem called "Valentine's Day" begins with the line, "The flatbed trucks of chickens have arrived." How can you not read on?