Don't Be Interesting Poems

An acclaimed finalist for the International Dylan Thomas Prize -- and one of our most galvanizing poets -- takes on The Future in a sharply perceptive and provocative new collection of poetry.

Don’t Be Interesting is a collection that grapples with The Future – as public morality-keeper and private reckoner. The book explores the lines dividing the present from both the future and the past. Its channels include all the breadth of mass experience, from film and sport to science fiction novels, war, history, technology, and biography. Part travelogue, the book dredges up mid-century optimisms in Europe and America. In tones that range from wryly empathetic to downright caustic, Don’t Be Interesting calls out to idols and villains, from athletes to folk heroes to musicians to war criminals, and asks us what becomes of the future once the past and present have merged into one?

JACOB McARTHUR MOONEY is the highly acclaimed author of two previous books of poetry, The New Layman’s Almanac and Folk, a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and the International Dylan Thomas Prize. He curates and hosts the bi-weekly Pivot Reading Series in Toronto, and is the editor of the 2015 edition of The Best Canadian Poetry in English. A Nova Scotian now living in Toronto, he is a graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of Guelph.