A Compact of WordsA Compact of Words, Canadian poet Rob McLennan's fifteenth trade poetry title, comes out of a series of reflections on domestic matters a break up, his daughter influenced by the ghazal as brought into Canadian literature through the American ex pat John Thompson in the 1970s. Through disparate leaps, the lines write as much between them as the words themselves, writing out a clear and present labyrinthine voice that goes beyond even what the words

Fawzi Karim

And I just don’t know why

‘My Life as a Wall’

a poetry of anomalies

They seek lost connections from a Montreal childhood

Galway in 1953 and is at present Principal of a large primary school in Dublin

His other books include The Streets of East London and East End 1888

desire and literary ambition

a short story translated by Thomas Aplin

translated by John Greening

Seamus Heaney

in Comparative and Estonian Folklore from Tartu University in 2004