The Words Wanting Out is the first selection from one of Canada's most respected poets. In 1982 Barry Dempster landed on the short list for the Governor General's Award for Poetry for his very first book, and has since published seven more collections to high praise.
Over this time, Dempster has chosen to keep a relatively low profile, relocating from Toronto to the small town of Holland Landing, Ontario, and only publishing his work at small literary presses. Many of his collections are either out of print or not widely distributed, making all of his titles highly sought after by poetry readers across Canada who have discovered his poignant writing by reputation, word-of-mouth, literary journals or by his contributions to our cultural landscape as an editor, instructor and critic.
The Words Wanting Out collects the best poems of Dempster's varied and dynamic output, including those from his 2003 collection
Living Well (available in limited edition only from Poppy Press).
"the poetry in this collection is as good as it gets in this country. . . . one of the finest books of poetry I've read this year." -Richard Stevenson, League of Canadian Poets
"Here in the span of 150-plus pages, Dempster spins a series of observations and musings that both come straight from his unconscious and the meditating of the corrosiveness of our society. For these poems speak of the beauty and solace in the everyday, the tiny antidotes to our daily grinds. It's a remarkable collection, bare as bone and delicate as marrow. . . . disarmingly uncalculated and refeshingly cathartic. . . . a lovely engaging collection."
-
Chris DeVito, CO-OP/CiTR/CJSF Radio 
