Such exchanges animate the kingdom // of the clock, but one by one their trades / complete, blink out like eyes. The city sleeps.

Set in a vibrant yet ragged coastal city, Kingdom of the Clock is a verse novel whose interwoven storylines begin with one day’s dawn and end at the first light of the next. Within the cycles of that single day, the lives of the city’s inhabitants unfold.

An aging stock promoter presides over the fruits of his predatory life. A woman tracks her husband’s iPhone to the casino. An artist races to prevent her masterpiece from being seized to cover unpaid rent. A commuter is shaken by a private vision. A mother plots to care for her unwell adult daughter. Senior and junior partners involved in a fraud weigh the risks and rewards of betraying each other. A boy boards an oil tanker with his father in an emergency. An elderly chess player prays to the moon for his grandchild to be born alive. A homeless man does not know his father is dying.

After night’s crescendo comes the blank page of a new day. A clear, flowing lyricism fuses the many moving parts of Kingdom of the Clock into an immersive, unforgettable reading experience.

Daniel Cowper's poems have appeared in various Canadian and international publications, and he is the author of the chapbook The God of Doors. He lives on Bowen Island.

Daniel Cowper's profile page

"Kingdom of the Clock is like a Robert Altman film in couplets, peopled with compelling characters, precise observations, and first-rate turns of phrase. An uncommonly good – and often envy-inducing – book.” Jason Guriel, author of The Full-Moon Whaling Chronicles and Forgotten Work

“A journey through the stratified lives of the modern city, Kingdom of the Clock exposes us all as equally flawed, yet equally capable of giving and receiving grace. Minutely detailed and fast-paced, this is a profoundly moving poem masquerading as an innovative novel – or perhaps the other way around.” Maggie Burton, author of Chores