Loyalty Management
Glen Downie
April 2007
120 pages | ISBN 978-1-894987-16-5
**Winner of the Toronto Book Award**
**One Book Toronto – 2009**
Like a sculptor finding the image trapped within the stone he carves, Glen Downie shapes shards of history and humanity into arresting poetry in Loyalty Management. Moving from the streets of Toronto, to the joys of fatherhood, to Chile’s “serrated edge”; Downie’s polished poems reveal hard truths, as well as moments of tenderness and wonder, with his abilities bounded only by the fragment of humanity to which he has turned his poet’s pen. This is a formidable collection from an established Toronto poet.
Reviews
Toronto Book Awards: Glen Downie (Ellen Lewkowicz, Toronto Public Library, 11/14/2008).
“Each word and phrase is chosen with care, with wit and to great effect. In a world where everything is point and click, Downie makes you sit and contemplate.”
Medic Poetics (Shane Neilson, Arc Poetry Magazine 60: The Dog-eared Issue, 5/21/2008).
“The fidelity of the telling is such that we can trust Downie to poetically forge these bonds, and sometimes break them, in lines that are spare and breath-aware”
Deft purpose shines behind dour cover (Barbara Carey, The Toronto Star, 9/16/2007).
"Hope lies in cherishing small moments and individuality, not in surrendering control of our lives to big business and big government."
About the Author
Glen Downie has published half a dozen books of poetry and in 2008 was awarded the Toronto Book Award for his collection Loyalty Management. His work has appeared in the secondary school textbook Inside Poetry, as well as in many anthologies and journals. Formerly a social worker in cancer care, he served a term as writer-in-residence at Dalhousie University’s Medical Humanities Program before returning to a life of anonymity in Toronto as an at-home father.
Other Titles by this Author
Local News (2011)
