The Crown Prince Waits for a Train

`There is an amusing story of poet Tim Inkster who went searching for the poetic significance of the raven in northern Ontario. ... Stumbling into a local pub after trying to photograph the bird, he found a quiet dark little corner to sip his beer and reflect on the day's work. Sensing something looking over his shoulder, Inkster wheeled around to see a huge stuffed black raven with glass eyes staring him down. It was about as large as an eagle and equally forboding. This story is a suitable preface to the work in this chapbook, The Crown Prince Waits For A Train, because the image of the raven is predominant (along with the train) in dealing with the themes of lost time and the realization of horror.'

Tim Inkster's proudest moment, as a poet, was the inclusion of "In Search of Eldorado" (from A Crown Prince Waits for a Train) in the 1975 edition of the Penguin Book of Canadian Verse edited by Ralph Gustafson. His most recent collection was Blue Angel (Black Moss, 1981) after which he stopped writing poems in favour of a career in the book publishing industry. The Crown Prince Waits for a Train is one of only two Porcupine's Quill publications from the 1970s that