The Poetry of Robert Henri Alphonse McGee, MON ESPRIT DE L'ESCALIER edited by Libbey Griffith is indeed a very rare book. Not just because there was only one copy left when I bought the second to last copy two weeks ago, but because it's a rare event, and one of a kind. In fact I can't think of a recent book of poetry that has moved me so deeply. It's many things- a self-published work of art, an annotated anthology, a salvaging expedition, a too-modest confession, a dialogue between a gifted poet and his unwitting Muse of 50 years ago, whom he lost in blackfly season on the TransCanada during a cross country Odyssey that produced one of the most memorable chapbooks of my Montreal generation.
In fact it's so many things, it takes your breath away while keeping you riveted and tearing your heart out and tickling your soul.
Don't let me be the only one to be jolted back to Poetry by this miraculous find.
I highly recommend you go in and try to buy the last copy where I last saw it, near the front window in the Poetry section.
