the collected works of Al Purdy - a legendary canadian poet who died in 2002 - i haven’t actually read this whole book yet. Purdy is my favourite canadian poet, and his works are redolent of the land, culture and politics of bc and the north particularly (although he was born in ontario, he spent much of his life in the west). two of his works that have moved me particularly are “say the namesâ€? and “trees at the arctic circleâ€? - which are evocative of the land-base from which they rose. there are also several poems in this collection about purdy’s time in cuba in the early 60s, his chance meeting with che guevara and reflections on hearing castro speak. purdy drank and travelled and chain-smoked - and wrote poetry that reflected travels both sublime and ludicrous. if you like poetry and haven’t read purdy - this is the best collection of his works to date. (by the way - chapters carries almost no canadian poets - i had to go to people’s co-op books to find this in the city) ( )