I’d better start by identifying one of my own prejudices: I have a positive bias towards the literary outpourings of my elders, particularly if they’re curmudgeonly. Having gotten that off my chest, I can say without further reservation that this is a really fun little chapbook. Lander has compiled about sixty subjects that start with the letter ‘P’, from poetry to petroleum companies, and written cranky, opinionated, insightful mini-rants about them. They all answer the same handful of questions: What is it? What does it deal in? What does it hate? What do people expect of it? What happens when it contradicts itself? – Odd questions, it’s true, but they give the poems structure, while leaving Lander the freedom to gripe to his heart’s content. Thoroughly likeable. (Wendy Banks)
poetry chapbook, Tim Lander, $?, Box 996, Nanaimo, BC, V9R 5N2