Hard Electric

Hard Electric is Michael Blouin's third book of poetry, a road-tripping, bridge-burning collection of the author's hard-won and soft-edged reflections that seem to stutter-step towards resolution while tumbling down a decided slant towards disaster. "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" was Celine Dion's first North American hit and in it she asks: "Where do all the lonely hearts go?"

In Hard Electric Blouin presents a bleakly unsettling but ultimately life-affirming treatise that hints at his fascination with the same question and perhaps shuffles into the neighbourhood of an answer. That neighbourhood is peopled with the late-night bars of Key West's Duval Street, the sharp spice of BBQ joints, sunburned beach motels and Christmas lights frozen to February trees. And Susan Sarandon's cousin.

All in a work that legendary poet bill bissett has called: "One of the most moving books I've ever read, with some of the wisest lines ever written."

It's a book not for the faint of heart, but for the lonely hearted, and for those who know them well.

Michael Blouin has been a finalist for the Amazon First Novel Award, the bpNichol Award, and the CBC Literary Award. He has been the recipient of the Lilian I. Found Award, the Diana Brebner Award and the Archibald Lampman Award. His novel Chase and Haven won the ReLit Award for Best Novel, an award he received again for his novel Skin House (Anvil Press). He is an Instructor at the University of Toronto, a guest lecturer for Carleton University, and serves as an adjudicator for both the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. He lives in Kemptville, Ontario.

]]>