polari (pe 'la: ri) from Italian parlare, a coded anti-language or idiolect at one time spoken by gay men for cover -- or a précis of John Barton's unique experience of language.

In this expansive collection, there are no boundaries of time, geography, or subject. Giving voice to history, to political and environmental anxieties, to the immediate past and the fluid present, Barton understands that we all live and speak in code, whether in language common to millions, in 0s and 1s, or in gestures, silences, and the most intimate of glances.

> is John Barton's eleventh collection of poetry.

Polari is John Barton's eleventh collection of poetry. His books and poems have won three Archibald Lampman Awards, a Patricia Hackett Prize, a CBC Literary Award, and a National Magazine Award. His poems, essays, and book reviews have appeared in magazines and anthologies across North America, Australia, and the UK. John Barton is the former co-editor of Arc and the present editor of the Malahat Review. He lives in Victoria.