Ministry of Edges

Glen Downie's Loyalty Management is this year's "Keep Toronto Reading One Book" choice. the title might be the worst ever for a book of poems, but maybe the idea is that the word management will snag people who otherwise avoid poetry like bubonic plague.

i picked up the book at the library & it opened to "Ministry of Edges"...which kicks off with:

Why a Ministry of the Interior? There is no Interior. There ought to be a Ministry of Edges.

- Canadian ex-patriot

so i brought the book home. Loyalty Management isn't as overtly Toronto-centric as last year's immensely popular "One Book" selection, Michael Redhill's novel, Consolation. i'm curious to see if Downie's book will get as much recognition. the opening pages of the book are accessible online, here.

(the photo above of the glorious urban edge of Highway 401 is by J. V. Salmon, taken in 1954.)