The Gun That Starts the Race (eBOOK)

"Peter Norman's The Gun That Starts the Race is sensually evocative and rich in imagery. Many of the poems bounce, like a stone skipping across the water's surface." — Scene

"The Gun That Starts the Race takes aim and never misses. No word is wasted or feels out of place. Norman hits the bull's-eye with every killer lyric. These poems are sardonic, mordant, and ironic in a suck-it-up sense. But the subjects that Norman worries come wrapped in wit. Like Sylvia Plath, he sees existence as a caustic comedy, the beautiful flesh bathed in acid. So, 'an itch indicates healing, you think. / The kisses of an unseen porcupine / or acupunctured rat,' Beware. For Norman, 'Paradise' is a virtual anagram of 'despair.'" — George Elliott Clarke

"The Gun That Starts the Race is a bang on (pun intended) title for this impressive new collection from a poet of imminence and aftermath. As vigorous in execution as they are detached in tone, Peter Norman's poems are finely formed odes to defining absences. He's a singular writer whose poems linger, riddling." — Stephanie Bolster

Peter Norman is the author of two poetry collections, Water Damage and At the Gates of the Theme Park (shortlisted for the 2010 Trillium Poetry Book Award), and a novel, Emberton. His fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including The Walrus and two editions of Best Canadian Poetry.