Arguably the best poetic graffiti around — filled with edginess, impulsive spontaneity, and the transcendent artist's desire to leave a mark on life.

Pierre DesRuisseaux, poet, editor, translator and authority on Quebec popular culture, is one of the most active proponents in the Quebec literary scene. Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1945, he is the author of numerous volumes of poetry, non-fiction and fiction. His poetry collection Monème won the 1989 Governor-General’s Award. He is a frequent editorial and creative contributor to literary journals both inside and outside Quebec. He is also the author and researcher for many works devoted to current Quebec culture, including le Dictionnaire des expressions québécoises.

Pierre DesRuisseaux's profile page

"The reader may question if it's an eternity, posthumous as a religion experience, or a secular non-death.... Breathe deeply of the rarefied air.... I'm uplifted."
— Prairie Fire 2003
"In metaphor there is an implicit comparison, a higher form by which presence in this world is made manifest through language. Pierre DesRuisseaux … practises that ellipse of metaphor in which I like to see the primal symbol, polished by the poet to a glittering point of excellence.... Pierre DesRuisseaux's work abounds in such triumphs.
No one now dares to talk seriously of the universe.... It is by trusting to language—not childish language, but the language of childhood—and to the original state of the word that the poet intends to lay the foundation of his peaceable kingdom and restore the universe, giving it the appropriate form and rhythm for the truths he has to say, and, with convincing discipline, first capturing the reader's attention, then inspiring fervour."
— Marc Vaillancourt