Xtra recommends: best queer books of 2009

Reviewed by Marcus McCann (Xtra, National, December 22, 2009)

IT'S A WRAP / Marie-Claire Blais, John Barton, Zoe Whittall (& one cheat)

Hymn by John Barton.

There are two competing forces at work in Hymn, John Barton's ninth full-length collection of poetry. First, the narrator seems to have unclenched a little. Barton has always had an unflinching eye, but here, the narrator asserts himself with a new sexual confidence. Secondly, as the narrator has relaxed, the poems themselves have become more tightly coiled, flashier, more prone to wordplay and associative leaps. Hello, cowboy!
Brick Books, $19.

http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Xtra_recommends_best_queer_books_of_2009-8041.aspx\