"Most long poems contain lyric occasions. Here is an amazingly sustained lyric that contains traces of other commodities." -Robert Kroetsch Sheila Murphy and Douglas Barbour extend their singular poetic vision of that elusive third I/eye in Continuations 2. The new lyric voice sustained (within) these labyrinthine verses does so by virtue of its authors' pitch-perfect collaborative process. For ten years they have kept their song alive via email, pulsing jazz-like variations and haunting repetitions back and forth from Arizona to Alberta, all the while adhering to that taut stanza of six lines. Readers who admire Barbour and Murphy's past innovations, or any poetry that gracefully exceeds its reach, will enjoy Continuations 2.

Douglas Barbour is a professor in the Department of English, University of Alberta, where he teaches creative writing, modern poetry, Canadian Literature, and science fiction and fantasy. His critical books include studies of poets Daphne Marlatt, John Newlove, and bpNichol (all ECW Press 1992), and Michael Ondaatje (Twayne 1993). Volumes of poetry includeVisible Visions Selected Poems (NeWest Press 1984),Story for a Saskatchewan Night (rdcpress 1989),Fragmenting Body etc (NeWest Press 2000) and, most recently,Lyric/Antilyric (NeWest Press 2001).

Douglas Barbour's profile page

Sheila E. Murphy's most recent book publications include Incessant Seeds (Pavement Saw Press, 2005), Proof of Silhouettes (Stride Press, 2004), and Concentricity (2004). She was awarded the Gertrude Stein Award for her Green Integer book titled Letters to Unfinished J. (2003). Murphy has made Phoenix, Arizona her home since 1976.

Sheila E. Murphy's profile page

"[Barbour and Murphy] extend their sequence of ongoing collaborations, producing a rare second volume of a contemporary collaboration between two poets.... Part of what makes this ongoing collaboration interesting is in the experience behind both writers, as Douglas Barbour has been publishing trade poetry collections since the early 1970s, and Sheila E. Murphy has been publishing nearly as long as well, and their collaborative efforts would be difficult to compare to much of their already-published individual works, truly creating something that is different in tone, style and voice.. This second volume continues the play of call and response, where Barbour and Murphy meet in the middle." rob mclennan, July 7, 2012 [Full post at bit.ly/N3IHIW]

"Douglas Barbour and Sheila E. Murphy extend their ... refined and joyful collaboration, which begun in November 2000 via email, in Continuations 2. Very evident in this flowing is the sense of delight that each writer must have had in the interchange, which results in a third, distinctive, voice.... Word play is extended over stanzas in a relentless rhythm that captivates and invites a circling back..." Shawna Lemay, Edmonton Journal, April 7, 2012 [Full article at http://bit.ly/HzQUjb]

"The lyric voice throughout these tight, six-line stanzas is sustained by a 10-year collaborative process in which the poets have kept their song alive via email, back and forth from Arizona to Alberta." Prairie Books NOW