April 2008
96 pages | ISBN 978-1-894987-23-3
$17.00
A gritty, original collection on a subject rarely addressed: the surprising affinities between crime and poetry. To gather material for a mystery novel, Landale accompanied RCMP officers on patrol. In Once a Murderer, the novel's protagonist has stepped out of prose fiction into poetry that is consuming and seductive. A running subversive commentary on love, crime and poetry appears in the margins, giving depth and flesh to the voices.
Reviews
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Poetry Review for the Year 2008 (Ryan Melson, Journal of Canadian Poetry Volume 25, 2/1/2011) "Overall, Landale’s intertwining of personal lives with their linguistic construction is simultaneously harrowing and fascinating; reading Once makes it clear why she won the poetry prize for the CBC literary competition.”
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Of verse and violent crime (Barbara Carey, The Toronto Star, 6/8/2008) “In the collection's best poems, Landale links crime and illicit sex – intimacy and guilt … also bond cop and perp; interrogation and seduction are both forms of manipulation.”
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Editor's choice: 8 recommended titles from recent releases (The Vancouver Sun, 6/7/2008) "Zoë Landale teaches writing at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. This book of poetry, a response to the violence around us, draws on her experiences accompanying RCMP officers on patrol. Poem titles include 'Ways to Identify Bad Guys,' 'Ways to Catch a Murderer,' 'How to Kill a Cop" and "How to Kill a Civilian'."
