Timely Irreverence is a collection of occasional poems that are sewn together through the inescapable intrusion of poetry itself. With circles of logic that provoke thoughtfulness, the paths of these poems are alluringly complex, and they engage through amusing points of casual living, visceral moments when poetry is permitted to intrude upon the everyday. Whether MillAr is letting a poem pass him by while mowing the grass, or etching it upon himself to "make them witness our cliches," Timely Irreverence is filled with the voice of a poet in touch with and opposing his creative spirit.

Jay MillAr is a Toronto poet, editor, publisher, teacher, and virtual bookseller. He is the author of False Maps for Other Creatures (2005), Mycological Studies (2002), and The Ghosts of Jay MillAr (2000). His most recent collection is the small blue (2007). In 2006 he published Double Helix, a collaborative "novel" written with Stephen Cain. Millar is the shadowy figure behind BookThug, an independent publishing house dedicated to cutting edge work by well-known and emerging North American writers, as well as Apollinaire`s Bookshoppe, a virtual bookstore that specializes in the books that no one wants to buy. A long-time fixture of the Toronto writing and publishing scene, Jay has participated in such diverse projects as the UNBC/Via Rail Poetry Train, The Scream in High Park, Test Readings Series and Influency: A Poetry Salon. He is also the co-editor (with Mark Truscott) of BafterC, a small magazine of contemporary writing. Currently Jay teaches creative writing at George Brown College. Singled out in the introduction of The New Canon as a `young firebrand` (which he reads as `troublemaker`) working against what some hold dear to poetic tradition, Jay is one of Canada`s voices of authority and risk on innovative, experimental, contemporary poetry.

Jay MillAr's profile page

MillAr's writing foregrounds a wry self-awareness: most of the poems thematize themselves as poems, as avowedly contingent verbal artifacts (as in the title poem: "I'm tinkering with these lines . . ."). Another preoccupation in his work seems to be with collisions of representation and violence, as in "More Trouble with the Obvious," where in a kind of dark comedy of innocence he describes how "kids" turn found objects into imaginary guns, which still - as mundane alchemies, blurring creativity into threat - have the potential to "blow you away."
--Kevin McNeilly, Frank Styles Blog

Timely Irreverence from Jay Millar brings another sardonic yet insightful perspective from the Canadian perspective, well worth considering.
--John Taylor, Midwest Book Review