Soft Power

Lyrical yet shot through with experimental and political veins, the poems in Soft Power are engaged with both the here-and-now of a world on the brink and the hope of something better, a planet where "generations hence / Inactivists will bathe under a sun made safe / By the collapse of oil-can economics."

Traversing badlands, sandhills, prairies, suburbia, Miami, London, Dublin, Paris, and beyond, Cole’s voice revels in questions of travel while resonating with the unheimlich "Canadalienation" of his expatriate existence. Whether bog surfing, gallery hopping, bug hunting, or meditating on the "strange genre" of national anthems, the poems in Cole’s long-awaited follow-up collection to his critically acclaimed Questions in Bed exist in a searching exchange with the world, both entering and being entered by it.

Contributors

Stewart Cole

Stewart Cole is the author of Questions in Bed, which Salty Ink named as one of the Dozen Best Books of Canadian Poetry from 2012, as well as the chapbooks Sirens and Alien Freight. He grew up in the Rideau Valley, south of Ottawa, and spent time living and writing in Victoria, Montréal, Fredericton, London, and Toronto before moving to the US Midwest. Cole is now an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, teaching English and creative writing. He may be found at stewart-cole.com. Soft Power is his second full-length collection of poetry.
Chapter Title Contents Contributors Pages Year Price

Preview

Expatriatism – The Unrequited North – Forecast – The Odds – On Partiality – The Art of Losing Does Not Aspire to the Condition of Music 14 $1.40

Preview

Parricide – As Spoken from the Barrel’s Bottom – To Pilot Knob – Badlands Nocturne – Yonder – Ultramarine – Kumquat – Simulcast – The End of … 32 $3.20

Preview

Treason – Horse in Void – For Bridget Riley – Mobcast – Blam – Bog Walking – Lostlandia – Hereafter All Flags – Harvestman 26 $2.60