Do readers need another collection of interviews with poets? No matter where they came from, a poet’s most important words surely go into the poetry. And as long as the poems themselves remain insufficiently read, who needs more substitute chatter, when literary periodicals already bristle with interviews?

Yet Tim Bowling’s book largely justifies its own additions to the ever-growing body of talk about poetry. The book’s honourable motivation – a tribute to Al Purdy – counts for something. So too does the book’s arrangement, in which 17 younger poets like Ken Babstock and Christine Wisenthal interview more established figures such as Don McKay and P.K. Page. Finally, the sheer articulate insight offered by some of the poets supplies its own thrill.

Readers are privileged to hear Dennis Lee on the intricacies of line breaks or Don Coles on the origin of his poetry in “the presentiment of loss.” New relationships between poets spring into view, as when Margaret Avison relates the wonderful story of her encounter with bp nichol in Toronto’s Robarts Library and the ongoing poetic exchange that resulted. The range of poets interviewed spans the country, from Don Domanski in Halifax to Phyllis Webb on Saltspring Island.

To provide continuity in a volume that unites poets as disparate as Sharon Thesen and Miriam Waddington, three questions were included in each interview. These concerned the role of honours and awards, the origins of poetic voice, and changes in the interviewees’ attitude since their early years. These questions are just the germ of what opens into a variety of wide-ranging discussions. In some cases, though, in-jokes and indulgent banter might have been more vigourously edited.

The technical sophistication of many of these discussions will be of great use to writers, especially to struggling poets lacking other local poets to compare notes with. Most importantly, the interviews will certainly send readers back to the subjects’ poems. If the book does this, then it will have passed the true test of any such collection.