Patternicity

Patternicity contains a suite of poems that won a 2008 CBC Literary Award and follows the author’s debut book of poems, The Velocity of Escape (Guernica Editions, 2008). As a physiologist currently completing his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, Johnstone’s work is informed by a scientific approach, his own corporeal environment and an exploration of “the unreliability of language, regardless of how it’s relayed.”

Reviews

I love Patternicity for its dirty noises. These are stylized, energized, slightly alarming poems tilted by scientific perspectives and ridden with violence, “meat stink,” blood and decay; poems that try to celebrate the “flanks / of hog, skinned heads lopped off / and honeyed.” Jim Johnstone’s forms are shapely, but feral. His music is beautifully rational, complex and charismatic. ―Carmine Starnino
Patternicity transforms the mundane into the otherworldly … it’s a compelling system of thought.―Mark Callanan, Quill & Quire
Award-winning and full of thought, Jim Johnstone brings readers a fresh experience with Patternicity. Seeking to explore language and how it often fails to truly get the message across, Patternicity is a read that shouldn’t be missed by any poetry lover.―Small Press Bookwatch (Oregon)
Praise for Johnstone’s previous work:

Johnstone is peculiarly armed with an M.Sc. in Reproductive Physiology which inhabits his vision and displays itself throughout this volume. He has an uncanny ability to extract and examine our human predicament from his unique residence in the unit verse.
―Wally Keeler, Poetency and Apoetasy Blog

… in their clean, heart-wrenching details. Johnstone’s gift is the quiet, understated handling of his characters and material, the subtle aggression and joy…
―Evie Christie, Mansfield Revue
This tight collection gains interest from the broad base of its scientific reference and historical scope, notto mention its linguistic density and reach.―Gillian Harding-Russell, Prairie Fire Review of Books

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Patternicity contains a suite of poems that won a 2008 CBC Literary Award and follows the author’s debut book of poems, The Velocity of Escape (Guernica Editions, 2008). As a physiologist currently completing his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, Johnstone’s work is informed by a scientific approach, his own corporeal environment and an exploration of “the unreliability of language, regardless of how it’s relayed.”

Reader Reviews

Details

Dimensions:

80 Pages
8in * 5.5in * 0.25in
0.24lb

Published:

March 15, 2010

Publisher:

Nightwood Editions

ISBN:

9780889712454

Book Subjects:

POETRY / Canadian

Featured In:

All Books

Language:

eng

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