SELECTIONS FROM REVIEWS:

“Against the full spectrum of poetic response to nature, Brett’s own work measures up well. He chants, searches, and hungers for an understanding of man’s relationship to natural disorder… his work can sing… Fossil Ground At Phantom Creek is an admirable body of work.” PACIFIC NORWEST REVIEW

“Brian Brett’s Monster… is subtitled “An Autobiography.” Using the idea of the self as monster, Brett’s pure poems appear to mythologize his life, fusing it with the life of the race: the monster he discovers is both man and god and animal and thing.” CANADIAN LITERATURE

“Brian Brett is a powerful writer and there’s plenty of adventure, exciting descriptions and fantasy here [The Fungus Garden]. ” THE WHIG STANDARD

“Brett’s poetic language and imagery propel us full-force toward the sad denouement of this short novel [The Fungus Garden]. Along the way we are treated to a richly textured fable of life and death among the termites. It is a truly voracious experience.” THE VANCOUVER SUN

“Smoke Without Exit is an unusual book of poetry. The poems are so well structured that the reader is caught, held, and forced to experience the violence of the night….”RUBICON

“[Smoke Without Exit]… a forced march through the rain forest….”SANDRA McKENZIE

“The forty-five prose poems in this collection [Evolution In Every Direction] won’t disappoint readers attracted by the book’s striking cover, which uses the author’s own photograph of a cactus flower… Public library patrons will find Brett a fresh voice in the Canadian poetry section.” CANADIAN MATERIALS

“[The Fungus] Garden joins its descriptive and narrative strands in a weft that disturbs as it dazzles. A good acquisition for graduate, undergraduate, and public libraries with contemporary fiction.”CHOICE

“Brett writes with a poet’s flair for drama [The Fungus Garden].” OTTAWA CITIZEN

“Brett assembles his surreal tale [The Fungus Garden] with considerable ingenuity. His details of hive life are inventive: there is much gruesome action and striking scenery.” BOOKS IN REVIEW

“Actually, The Fungus Garden is so compelling that one simply wants to keep on reading. Its original storyline almost demands a sequel. What will Brett think up next?” THE TORONTO STAR

“Brett’s specialty is finding the unusual among the commonplace.” THE MONTREAL GAZETTE

“With inventive settings, lyrical descriptions and sophisticated use of dream imagery, Brett has created [Tanganyika] a myriad of complex worlds to perplex and stimulate the reader.” THE VANCOUVER SUN

“Most poets who are neglected are rightfully neglected, but Brian Brett’s poetry you pass over to your own loss. If you have not read at least some of these poems, you cannot have understood.” JOHN NEWLOVE

“Brett’s poetry transforms us with its richness and its passion. He is metamorphic, whether he writes of the intimacy of his lovers and friends or of the spiritual world of the land around him. He has changed us for twenty years and those changes, sometimes troubling, sometimes sweet, have always left us asking for more.” PATRICK LANE