Jack is comprised of poems that reconsider the method in which the desperate periphery manage the minutiae of existence. Set against the backdrop of a distilled urban landscape, the speakers in Jack find themselves lost in the bars, bottles and back alleys of their narratives. The result is a dark, acerbic, honest, and humourous collection that challenges not only the manner in which its speakers confront the mundane, but the traditions of poetry that have done the same.

Mike Spry was born and raised in Ottawa and has spent time living in Vancouver, Central America, and Toronto. He is a graduate of the Creative Program at Concordia University in Montreal where he is the Managing Editor of Matrix magazine and the co-coordinator of The Pilot Reading Series. His work has appeared in the Soliloquies, Headlight and Pistol Anthologies, as well as in Matrix magazine. Mike is currently working on two manuscripts: a selection of short stories entitled Distillery Songs and a novel entitled Working up the Bottle. Jack is his first collection of poetry.