“[Downie] writes in an accessible, entertaining way, but with a refined enough approach that his works can’t be dismissed as crude or simplistic. When he wants, he can be quite funny, and he can drop Canadian references — Pierre Trudeau, Tim Horton’s, hockey, Canada geese — without sounding like he’s trying to be Canadian. His particular strength as a poet is his unusual, unexpected imagery… the words are exact, sensuous and satisfying.” —National Post
“Downie’s fertile imagination can no longer be contained within the Hip alone.” —Nicholas Jennings, Maclean’s
“Downie has a casually attentive way with words; each one does its work without mystification or excess. At a time when poetry has mostly turned away from large-scale social realities, he bridges deftly and persistently between personal and national narratives. Like Greg Curnoe and Stan Rogers, he never learned that ‘here’ is a four-letter word.” —Robert Everett-Green, Globe and Mail
“Coke Machine Glow…is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated poetry collection in recent memory…Downie doesn’t disappoint…[He] is something of a national treasure.” —Calgary Herald
“Coke Machine Glow is a wildly enjoyable read…[Downie] writes of and from hotel rooms, hotel bars and diners, giving us a peek at the often boring and lonely, but occasionally exhilarating, life of a travelling performer.” —Moe Berg, Globe and Mail
“[Downie’s] gentle irongy and clever conceptual turns are thoroughly contemporary and undeniably original…Downie’s debut…possess[es] a distinct, personal vision and reintroduces whimsy and humour to an artform often hobbled by its own self-importance — laudable achievements for any first book.” —Kevin Connolly, eye Weekly
“Songs like “Thirty-eight Years Old,’ ‘Wheat Kings’ and ‘Nautical Disaster’ have inspired a new generation of Canadian poets by demonstrating how relevant, contemporary narratives can be rendered in provocative yet accessible verse…[H]is best poems [are] elegantly understated…” —Quill and Quire
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