Riffs - Softcover

Lee, Dennis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0919626653 ISBN 13: 9780919626652

Publisher: Brick Books, 1993

Synopsis

Poetry. The poem that is RIFFS tells the story of a passionate love affair, in vintage Lee style -- with whoops, deep chords, and headlong improvisational arcs. We hear Bach, Bo Diddley, Bird; the news is heartache and being. Celebratory and catastrophic, the poem tracks ways in which eros and our lives are made mutually accountable. RIFFS is a landmark achievement from the poet of Civil Elegies and The Gods. "This is a grown-up voice, a voice of gritty honesty, of integrity...we are taken along for the ride in an entirely convincing, captivating way" -- Quill & Quire.

About this title

About the Author:

Dennis Lee, OC, MA (born 31 August 1939) is a Canadian poet and thinker who lives in Toronto, Ontario. He is also a children's writer. Lee has a bachelor's and a master's degree in English from the University of Toronto. He is best known for his children's writings; his most famous work is the rhymed Alligator Pie (1974). He also wrote the lyrics to the theme song of the 1980s television show Fraggle Rock and, with Philip Balsam, many of the other songs for that show. Balsam and Lee also wrote the songs for the television special The Tale of the Bunny Picnic. Lee is co-writer of the story for the film Labyrinth.

Review:

"Cool cat, hot Riffs ... It's the jazzy song of a word-lover ... It's a slim, accessible paperback whose jazzy cover is like the opening blast of the syncopated, reckless, apparently impulsive writing within."--The Globe and Mail

"Lee's driving energy and faultless craft make Riffs an unusually easy book of poems to read. And while it sometimes indulges in pure headlong excitement at the expense of deeper emotion, it also swirls into little eddies of complex, original beauty. Its climax is deeply moving, with its reverberant image of dolphins arcing over a silver sea."--Maclean's

"The poems in Riffs are honest, passionate and full of insight. Their masterful rhythms and melodies re-establish Lee as one of the countries great poets."--The Montreal Gazette"

... Impossible to put down. Lee has a way of making language seem inevitable ... Whether the emotional moment swoops or falls, we are taken along for the ride in an entirely convincing, captivating way ... one of the finest poets in the English language."--Quill and Quire

"Lee resurrects the music of Dylan Thomas, the wordplay of e.e. cummings, the zany delight of his own Alligator Pie."--The Ottawa Citizen

"Poet Dennis Lee may add love-junkie beatnik of distinction to his long list of credentials."--NOW Magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: Brick Books
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0919626653
• ISBN 13: 9780919626652
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 64