Good Ox

Two great reviews of Christopher Patton's 2007 poetry debut Ox (yes, they appeared over the summer, but if you haven't seen them, then they're new to you).

"Christopher Patton’s new book Ox is artful, intelligent and substantial. It is a refreshing and generous first book from a very steady-eyed, steady-handed, steady-minded new poet." - Scott Hightower, Coldfront Magazine

"[Patton's] musicality and sense of structure, both in motion and shape on the page, are impeccable...Ox is a terrific first book from a sophisticated and sure-handed young poet" - Diane Schenker, Boxcar Poetry Review



And check out Carla Funk's interview with Patton on her Capital Verse page.

How does island-life inform your writing?

Vancouver Island is for a Salt Springer a sort of small mainland. I come across now and then for a hit of city excitement. Other times to hike around in Strathcona Park. Those long quiet steady fluid real days show up in poems as blues and greens and low sonorous vowels. A rainy forest quality to the phrasing, one thought decaying into or sprouting from another.

Finally, of all the arts and callings in life, why poetry?

Can’t sing, can’t dance, can’t paint, can’t sail.