Fluttertongue 4: adagio for the pressured surround is poetry at its most eloquent. In this long poem, Smith imagistically evokes birds and plants, physical torture, and human relationships, as he delves into the meaning of words and ponders language itself. In this sometimes personal, sometimes documentary, work, Smith references a wide range of subjects, including science, fishing, and other poets and artists-Canadian and international. Themes that run throughout the book include death, food, and Smith’s relationships with his father and his son. This sometimes dark, sometimes humorous, poetic work explores the possibilities and nuances of language, and seeks to find a form of expression outside of free verse and prose, with a meditative pace. Smith’s tendency to dart in and out of ideas and concepts is delicately balanced by echoes and recurrences, and his quest to explore and expand, for himself, the possibilities of poetry.

Steven Ross Smith is a multi-disciplinary sound and performance poet, writer of fiction, poetry, book reviews, and artist profiles. He has served as publisher/editor with Underwhich Editions, Business Manager of Grain magazine, and as Managing Editor with Banff Centre Press and editor of the online magazine Boulderpavement. He has been a Writer-In-Residence in a variety of long and short-term residencies, including the twelve-month terms at Saskatoon Public Library and Weyburn Public Library. Smith has been publishing literary work since the 1970s, appearing in one hundred periodicals and thirteen books, including one non-fiction title, two collections of short fiction, and ten poetry books. Smith's book Disarray: Fluttertongue 3: won the 2005 Saskatchewan Books Awards Book of the Year Award. The chapbook Pliny's Knickers, a collaboration between Smith, poet Hilary Clark and artist Betsy Rosenwald, won the 2006 bpNichol Chapbook Award. In 2008, he moved to Banff to become Director of Literary Arts at The Banff Centre, where he served until February 2014. Smith currently lives in Banff, Alberta. Connect with Smith at www.fluttertongue.ca or on Twitter @SonnyBoySmith.

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