Bit parts for fools

Shortlisted, Archibald Lampman Award

In this lush collection of linguistic concatenations, Peter Richardson lines up the quotidian and the metaphysical, the personal and the fictional, and assigns equal standing to their rich complications. Whether his cast members take the ironic stance of an apostate jazz pianist or the hardball approach of a recovering stand-up comic, they invite us on an exuberant exploration of self that rewards multiple readings. Ranging from a literate vernacular to high diction, the language of Bit Parts for Fools hints at a new hunger driving the poet's quirky observations and confirms once again that Richardson is a fine craftsman -- all confidence and mischief, "whistling from scuffmark to scuffmark."