In this virtuoso display of sonnets, free verse, prose poems, villanelles, ghazals, and aphorisms, People’s Poet Robert Priest makes it clear why the Pacific Rim Review has called him “surely the most imaginatively inventive poet in the country.” A profound meditation on love, death, sex, and sickness, If I Didn’t Love the River speaks directly to the polarizations of our time. Priest’s mastery of dark satire, lyric ebullience, erotic verse, and the pithy maxim is as grat...

“One of the most imaginatively inventive poets in the country.” — Pacific Rim Review of BooksThe accidents of Priest’s collection are definitely not all “happy.” They move through a full range of human emotions: dread, grief, anger, ecstasy, lust and empathy. Plus some magic levity. This is poetry you will want to recite aloud: lyrical love poems, sonnets, satires, ghazals, curses, and bitter invective. These are not snobby poems — they want and welcome re...

From his first book, The Visible Man ("as fine a first volume of poetry as one is ever likely to read" - the Dalhousie Review ), to his most recent, Resurrection In the Cartoon ("passionate, humourous, worldly-wise, kick-ass poetry" - The Vancouver Sun ), Robert Priest's poetry has been the delight of critics and readers alike. Blue Pyramids: New and Selected Poems brings together the best of Robert Priest's six books of lyric poems, spells, psalms, aphorisms, koans, diatribes, and prose p...

Bizarre sexual parables, hilarious science fiction, fables, text-tangles, dirty stories, lush love letters, re-visionary fairy tales, predictions,strange new games, dream transcripts, and a complete handbook of absurdist instructions, including one on the dangerous arts of pig-swallowing. With all the lyricism and wit which have made his columns in NOW magazine and his Dr. Poetry segments on CBC's Wordbeat so entertaining and provocative, this collection gathers for the first time the very...

Picking up and pulling at the vibrant threads of Robert Priest's last book of poems, Reading the Bible Backward, this collection explores new themes while spanning multiple strands of thought. One strand leads, with unabashed candor and elegance, through the author's love life; another, through fields of praise; a third experiments with automated metaphors and delivers a challenging new selection of mash-ups that Priest calls meme splices. A fourth thread rekindles the author's lo...

On the spell-crossed Phaer Isle, young Xemion and his friend Saheli just made one little mistake, but now they’re in a fight for their own lives and the future of all Phaer. Up against Thralls, Triplicants, dragons, rage-wraiths, will they find the key to victory in the Great Kone, the source of all magic? And what will it cost them?Includes:The Paper Sword – Spell Crossed #1After shaking hands with a man with a red hand, Xe...

Reverse engineering the word, meme splicing, morpheme replacement therapy, phonetic modifications: these are some of the techniques in play throughout Reading the Bible Backwards , the lyrical thought experiments that make up this eagerly anticipated new collection of poems by Robert Priest. By throwing the Bible and other cultural narratives on the turntable and spinning them backwards, Priest unleashes surprisingly new but strangely familiar music and meaning. Whether the movements are s...

A painted sword is their only protection from evil sorcery, strange creatures, and enemy forces.On the spell-crossed Phaer Isle, teenage Xemion dreams of being a great swordsman. When he finds a blade-shaped stick, he fashions it to look like a real sword. Knowing that the laws of their cruel Pathan conquerors would require a death sentence for possession of such an object, his friend Saheli demands he destroy it. He agrees, but insists on performing just one sword...

In this wonderfully quirky story, two stubborn souls - a retired pirate and a retired queen - do battle in the sailboat pond in Central Park. Inspired by memories of his past, the Old Pirate has built a marvelous replica of his sailing ship, the Laughing Dog. But when he takes it to the park to launch it in the pond, he finds the waters are not so friendly - the S.S. Uppity Duchess is unwilling to share the seas and takes aim at the Laughing Dog. Who will rule the waves in this offbeat tal...

On the spell-crossed Phaer Isle, young Xemion and his friend Saheli just made one little mistake, but now they’re in a fight for their own lives and the future of all Phaer. Up against Thralls, Triplicants, dragons, rage-wraiths, will they find the key to victory in the Great Kone, the source of all magic? And what will it cost them?Includes:The Paper Sword – Spell Crossed #1After shaking hands with a man with a red hand, Xe...

Do you wish you had a better understanding of the issues and questions African Christians face as they seek to live out their faith in their cultural context? Do you wonder how Africans themselves frame these questions and their answers? Would you like access to actual research that can confirm your own experience or bring new information to your attention that would deepen and broaden your understanding? This unique book, the product of a multiyear study and survey sponsored by the Tyndal...

Two young friends are separated by a tragic crossed spell, and with war looming, will they be able to find each other again?The rebels have amassed in the ancient Phaer city of Ulde. Amongst the throngs of seasoned warriors and new recruits, young Xemion is at a crossroads. He believes in the cause of his people, and his dream of being a swordfighter is now within reach, but without his warrior beloved, Saheli, by his side, he’s incomplete.The two young fri...