Often humorous, always accurate, Barbour deftly breathes life into the overworked and commonplace . . . [his] writing is infused with a strict attention to language in its own right, as a primary act and as a celebration. As a result, his poems are active, inviting and rewarding capsules of insight.

—Judith Fitzgerald Toronto Star

As Barbour's landscape has become increasingly linguistic, the poems have become both surer and more venturesome. He has set a rigorous and courageous poetic for himself - to write truly out of direct perception, rejecting preconceptions, to unite language, landscape and body through the act of writing. Douglas Barbour deserves to be more visible in the landscape of Canadian poetry.

—Ann Mandel Edmonton Journal

What he does with words is find the soul of the country, and of himself, in a way we can share, and which illuminates the place and ourselves with love. Candas Jane Dorsey Brick Douglas Barbour . . . is one of the most underrated poets in the country. He has done five or six books, all of them exquisitely phrased, filled with beauty of sound.

—Dennis Cooley Hungry Mind Review