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Oneiric, fabulist, hilarious, surreal. No single term seems to sufficiently contain Mikko Harvey’s delightful, cheeky, absurdist, inimitable debut poetry collection.
A bomb and a raindrop make small talk as they fall through the air; a visit to the phlebotomist evolves into a nightmarish party; a boy notices himself turning into a piano key. Reading Unstable Neighbourhood Rabbit is like spending the day at a strange amusement park. At first the rides appear familiar—then you realize they possess the power to not only thrill and terrify, but destabilize your very notion of amusement. These poems veer sharply away from what’s normally expected of poetry, instead bringing readers to that darkened, awkward, interior space where we are free to be most ourselves.
“In Unstable Neighbourhood Rabbit, as it should be the case, natural elements act like neighbours and old friends, people act like animals, animals act like people, names determine fate, rice and goats and bowls determine how we interpret the world, our palms control our thinking, our imaginations are celebrated and called upon to take responsibility for what they call into existence, our imaginations transform us as necessary, everything is a sign, everything is heroic and epic and fragile, everything matters, the wind can undo our shoelaces.” — Dara Wier, award-winning author of Reverse Rapture
“All words are adult, said Maurice Blanchot. And this book is saying to words (like “nature”) die! *gently* die! And be born again: babies, children, reindeer. So, don't read this book if you don’t want to think like a child (and don’t read it if you don't think childthought is absolutely magnified). Don’t read this book if you don’t want to lose your I. Don’t read this book if you don’t want to cry.” — Darcie Dennigan, author of Madame X and Palace of Subatomic Bliss
“Bizarre but compelling, Harvey’s poetic “playground” is fascinating territory.” — Toronto Star
“Lively, sometimes intense, and linguistically inventive.” — Quill & Quire