In this, his highly anticipated debut collection of poems, Nick Thran fuses a whimsical pop sensibility with an urgent poetic gravitas that refuses to sell the human heart short. The resultant poems are emblematic of the clash between our private enthusiasms and the cool diffidence of the world around us.
Here, a private school student stashes a stolen sheep's brain inside the bookcase of a girl he thinks is beautiful; a mother bakes banana bread with sugar borrowed from a neighbour who beats his wife. With equal parts playfulness and tenacity, Nick Thran writes refreshingly substantial poems about the risks we take in our struggle to remain passionate about something (anything) in an age when an ingrained cynicism attempts to keep genuine passion at arm's length.
Praise for Every Inadequate Name:
"In Every Inadequate Name, Nick Thran eschews those ephemeral lines we insist upon drawing between rural, suburban, and urban lives in the same permeating way a Top 40 hit finds us anywhere we travel — only here, there's no shame when you find yourself singing along. At turns funny, erotic, poignant, fierce, Thran is one young poet who's discovered he can run 'faster than anyone .... He breaks the seam, the tie, our hearts.'"
— Elizabeth Bachinsky, author of Home of Sudden Service and Curio: Grotesques and Satires from the Electronic Age
"Gathering scraps in 'Club Amnesia,' Nick Thran fingers in doubt the mantle of a generation. But hesitations are crucial to the lift this book imparts. Precision, edge, and leap energize its every element: 'How Pop Sounds,' 'The Coin O'Rama Laundromat,' 'Bloor Street' ("easily/ the most romantic street in the world"), on and on."
— Stan Dragland, author of Stormy Weather: Foursomes and Apocrypha: Further Journeys
Poetry ·
Canada $11.95 · US $9.95 · UK £5.99 ·
Trade paperback
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1-897178-27-1
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72 pages
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5" x 8"
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Insomniac Press
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities
