In this precision-crafted collection, John Donlan expresses his very modern views on the mundane exigencies and exhilarating splendour of daily existence. He tackles such subjects as beauty, love and ecology, writing with feeling but without sentimentality--indeed, his collection constitutes a "history and science of feeling."

Originally published by House of Anansi Press, 1993. Illustrated green covers with French flaps.

John Donlan is the author of six collections of poetry. He is an editor with Brick Books, and was the 2012–13 Barbara Moon Editorial Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto, the 2014–15 Writer in Residence at Saskatoon Public Library, and the 2016–17 Haig-Brown Writer in Residence in Campbell River. He divides his time between Vancouver, B.C., and South Frontenac, Ontario. Visit John’s website at www.johndonlan.wordpress.com.

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"intelligent, articulate...masterfully condensed style" --Cary Fagan, Globe and Mail, February 12, 1994

"Through Donlan's skill with musical phrasing, line, and image, these seemingly haphazard observations embody the findings of contemporary physics: reality as particle flow within a field of probability. Donlan is the bird for those who dismiss contemporary poetry that does not enact flux in some such fashion." --Mary Dalton, Books in Canada, December 1993

"wit, feeling, and linguistic acrobatics...concise, taut" --Mark Young, Scene, July 15-28, 1993

"better than John Ashbery" --David McFadden

"important insights...the speaker's voice is extremely likeable and is open and honest...food for the soul" --Jay Ruzesky, Event, Winter 1993-94

"tightly woven and well-polished....there's a poetic skill at work here, one that has proven itself" --Quill and Quire, November 99

"A collection to be read and reread, Baysville charts the assured growth and maturity of John Donlan as a poet." --John Tyndall, London Free Press, 1993

"In Baysville, Donlan attempts to reach 'that part of our nature that exists independent of civilization, or even conscious thought [...] what has been called the deep unconscious wisdom system.' Yet, it is the heart, community, that he turns to in the end." --Craig McMcLuckie, Canadian Literature, 1995