In his first collection of poetry, Max Layton takes the post apocalypse to new heights. Satirical in places, full of longing and remorse in others, the poems (each beginning with "When the rapture comes ...") bring together memories of family, trips to fantasylands, and outrageous humour. Life, in other words, in all its varied colours and shapes -- despite the shadow of when the rapture comes.

The eldest son of poet Irving Layton, Max has worked as everything from tobacco picker, logger, and apprentice auto mechanic to bank vice president and high school English teacher. He is the author of a novel, a short story collection, four CDs, and two previous books of poems from Guernica: When The Rapture Comes and In The Garden of I Am. He lives in Cheltenham, Ontario.

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Max Layton believes that when the rapture comes there will be no light show of rhetoric, no linguistic highjinking around - no, in that singular moment of revelation, in the directly spoken language which is the way of Max Layton's poems, the word will become flesh and the flesh will meet bone. -- Barry Callaghan