Better break out your sledgehammer – it’s time for a little concrete! Concrete poetry, that is. Concrete what? Well, it’s poetry that’s a lot like art – its meaning comes from what it looks like instead of the order of the words, so it’s full of great visual puns and word puzzles. And one of its foremost practitioners is bpNichol, one of Canada’s best experimental writers.

Konfessions of an Elizabethan Fan Dancer is Nichol’s very first book. Originally published in England by Bob Cobbing in 1967, and then in Canada in 1973 by Nelson Ball’s Weed/Flower Press, it has been unavailable for a dog’s age. This new edition, curated by poet and antiquarian bookseller Nelson Ball, redresses this wrong. One of the few Nichol books that is dedicated entirely to concrete poetry, Konfessions is, like all of Nichol’s work, playful, sincere, explorative, intelligent and human.