Like consists of fifty poems every one of which uses the word "like." Like is about people and things Layton likes -- or, sometimes, dislikes. In these poems, Layton expresses a gamut of emotions, from the fear of death to the peaceful contentment of watching two nesting Canadian geese. However, "like" is more than an emotionally charged verb. It is also the basis of simile. It is by likening one thing to another that Layton finds meaning in ordinary things. Since all things are alike in some way, Like is a book of poetry about the underlying unity of all creation.

The eldest son of poet Irving Layton, Max has worked as everything from tobacco picker, logger, and apprentice auto mechanic to bank vice president and high school English teacher. He is the author of a novel, a short story collection, four CDs, and two previous books of poems from Guernica: When The Rapture Comes and In The Garden of I Am. He lives in Cheltenham, Ontario.

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Praise for In The Garden of I Am: A genuine pleasure to read. My first kick came as I realised that every poem takes off from the same line. That's something I've never seen, and it set me thinking of jazz musicians who riff on a familiar tune. It's a muscular conception for a book, sly and satisfying. There's a sturdy intelligence at work here, a stubbornly independent cast of mind determined to test things on its own nerve-ends and come to its own conclusions ... -- Dennis Lee