Description

Half a century ago, Canadian poet Gary Botting pioneered the use of shaped poetry to achieve visual effects often experienced by the reader as vertigo. Most of his published poems pushed the accepted boundaries of poetic and linguistic structure and thematic acceptability. Now his experimental poems are regarded as avant-garde. In Streaking! The Collected Poems of Gary Botting, the poet explores themes of unabashed sensuality in a variety of forms, from haikus, sonnets, odes, and ballads to his full-length poetic drama, Prometheus Rebound. His acerbic wit finds voice in poetic sequences such as Monomonster in Hell, where he satirizes his own naiveté as a teenaged missionary in Hong Kong. "His sense of humor - rare in Canadian poets - giggles across the page," says one critic. Born in England, Gary Botting is the author of more than 30 books. As a teenager, he won top honours at the U.S. National Science Fair and travelled around the world with his exhibit on the hybridization of giant silk moths. At 18, he became a journalist for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. On his return to Canada, he earned his Ph.D. in English and M.F.A. in playwriting, and taught creative writing in universities from Newfoundland to British Columbia, in the process establishing himself as a poet and playwright. His novels Campbell's Kids and Crazy Gran are also published by Strategic. Entering law school at 45, Botting earned his J.D., LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees in law. He currently practices law in Vancouver, British Columbia. Publisher's website: http: //sbpra.com/GaryBotting Author's websites: http: //www.garybotting.com and http: //www.garybotting.ca