Bizarre Winery Tragedy is a book of lyric poems about country folk, city folk, alcohol and urbanism. These poems continue Neff's quest to explore the modern-day juxtaposition of urban and rural landscapes, and the lines of power between the countryside and the metropolis-firewood, dams and the WiFi-enabled grid. Deeper insights emerge in this, the author's third published collection. Bizarre Winery Tragedy is 21st-century poetry that juggles death and technology and finds some nasty laughs in the process. Think of it as a strange and tragic road trip through British Columbia's wine-consuming regions, with Neff at the wheel.

Praise for Bizarre Winery Tragedy:

"The speakers in Neff's poems tend to rant, but they do so with intelligence and wit, and the poems sizzle with energy . . . Reading Bizarre Winery Tragedy is a bit like getting caught with that mad yapper in the pub, except Neff has a thousand different stories to tell and nearly as many figures through which to tell them. Although I began to feel a bit too much of a muchness about these poems, their energy and directness will keep a reader engaged." (Canadian Literature)

"This is a poet who [... ] maintains a sense of wit and skill as he pursues his native landscape. Whether waiting for the warmth of the no. 14 bus, or wandering half-cut down East Hastings, Neff never shies away from the roughest his city has to offer. Here is a poet who knows Vancouver from the sidewalk up, the pull of its streets through the dark." (Books in Canada)

Praise for Lyle Neff:

"These poems pack a wallop. They're full of outrage and bravado, tempered by amazing insights and a highly developed musical sensibility. They ‘steam and churn' with the energy of the city, they burn with this young poet's ‘hottest fire of sight'." (Lorna Crozier)

Lyle Neff's work has appeared in subTerrain, Geist, Prism International, Adbusters Quarterly, Canadian Dimension and Seventh Wave. His first collection of poetry,Ivanhoe Station (Anvil Press), was a finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Also published by Anvil Press are Full Magpie Dodge and Bizarre Winery Tragedy. Neff lives and works in Vancouver.

Lyle Neff's profile page