Rue du Regard

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By (author): Todd Swift

Todd Swift is one of Canada’s leading expatriate writers. Elegant, moving, and masterful, Rue du Regard forms the final part of a trilogy, following the acclaimed Budavox and Cafè Alibi. Written in Paris and London, Rue du Regard crosses the channel between these two great cities and between two kinds of poetry: experimental and mainstream. The book deals with looking: in, out, back, and ahead. In almost whiplash motion; certain moods, themes, and images from Swift’s earlier collections here snap forward, double-back. The universal accidents of travel and memory, love and desire, violence and innocence, are central.

AUTHOR

Todd Swift

Todd Swift is a widely known poet, critic and cultural organizer. He is a lecturer at Kingston University in English Literature and Creative Writing and a tutor for The Poetry School. He has published six full collections of poetry, the first four from DC Books. His most recent collections are Seaway: New and Selected Poems (Salmon, 2008) and Mainstream Love Hotel (Tall-lighthouse, 2009), and a free-to-download ebook from Argotist, Experimental Sex Hospital. Todd has edited or co-edited many international anthologies, including Poetry Nation, 100 Poets Against The War, and (with Evan Jones) Modern Canadian Poets (Carcanet, 2010).

Reviews

“One of Swift’s endearing qualities is that he pays as much attention to the small people in his life, as he does to his mentors and great artists…. Swift’s best poems are restrained, tight-lipped and tempered, yet full of sombre and subtle allusion.” — Books in Canada, Feb. 2005 “Infused with pop culture, Western Europe … the poems move with their energetic author. Blog-worthy… ” — This Magazine, Jan-Feb 2005 “Musicality hardly begins to describe this rather colossal collection….” — Vallum , Fall-Winter 2005 “Rue du Regard] is a carefully wrought package… There is some clever wordsmithing going on in these pages… linguistic panache…. Swift is talented.” — Montreal Gazette, Jan. 2005 “Todd Swift might be thought of as a cosmopolitan, … savvy, well read, travelled poet … a promising poet whose work is entertaining, ingenious, humorous and likeable….” — Poetry London, No. 50, Spring 2005