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- ISBN: 1-894692-01-2
- $12.95
- Poetry
- 104pp
- 2001
Fresh and refreshing, here comes a zine-generation performance poet, flying gracefully in the face of orthodoxies. This is the poetry of a young lesbian at large - anxieties, heartbreaks and all - coming of age with smile and substance. In a resilient voice that glides convincingly from love letters to dead poets to radical cheerleading, Zoe Whittall rides a Greyhound bus across a pop culturescape, accompanied by her girls. Grounded in and transcending Canadian poetry traditions, she proves her life and times in lines that lie like "trails for secret admirers to follow" knowing what is sacred at 15 and wondering what it takes to get God's attention.
"The voice is compelling and fresh…"
Word
"In these accessible and astute poems, Whittall assembles a cast of female buddies and lovers, bitching about life while planning the perfect getaway. This is a coming-of-age through poetry, from Puff The Magic Dragon to topless teenage rebellion. Everything about the book is pleasing."
Geist Magazine
"Brave, fun, inventive poetry from a tender talent (only 25!), Whittall details the urban queer experience of Montreal and Toronto (where she practices her "high-rent low-glamour ways.") Her verse is thoughtful yet informal - the loose and jangly language conveys the in-between moments of life that arouse her muse. Chaste and sexy, it evokes a multitude of vivid imagery, simultaneously direct and diffuse. Whittall has established her potential and promise with this collection - if her abilities and subject matter continue to mature her 15 minutes of fame await."
Broken Pencil Magazine
"I love these poems. They are so full of life. Raw, uncertain, twisted dying sexy life. So many lines and images stayed with me."
Susan Musgrave