Mike Spry, 56 pages, Invisible Publishing, invisiblepublishing.com, $14.95
Montreal-based writer and editor Mike Spry has a charming talent for sardonic prose. In his first collection, Jack, Spry infused dark topics with quirky mediations, making a potentially heavy read into something relatable. There’s a palpable isolation in his latest work, Bourbon & Eventide. Utilizing popular relationship clichés and dry wit, Spry’s words flow like a novel broken up into neat tercets. Observed by a cynically biased narrator, the protagonists meet and fall for each other, despite their bleak outlooks and flaws. The poet creates a foundation, a setting, and, as the affair continues, the pair’s failings go from beautifully sensitive introductions to humorous punch lines. Conceptually, the stanzas work like
Twitter feed-fodder, since there’s no heavy digging into the narrative — there could easily have been more meat in it. However, as a whole, this examination of coupledom is poignant. It makes for a bittersweet reminder that romance is sometimes more about the frayed connections we make rather than love itself. (Jacqueline Valencia)