In This Thin Rain

Nelson Ball

ISBN 13: 978-1-894469-66-1

$16.95 CDN/US
82 pp

In his first full-length poetry collection since 2004, Nelson Ball, Canada’s most renowned minimalist, offers up compressed meditations — ranging from the whimsical to the mournful — on clouds, birds, insects, trees live and dead, water-stained walls, crumbling windmills, and hyphenation. Ball’s poems are meticulously polished gems that move through the seasons, finding beauty and depth in the most banal and simple things.

On Nelson Ball’s Previous Books

“From his seat at the pond’s edge, the poet learns to hear the language of its elements, and then teaches the reader to do the same.” — Nita Pronovost, Matrix

“In At the Edge of the Frog Pond and outwards, words ring again, and lingering, re-affirm the import of the word in the world, and none of it is superfluous.” — Kemeny Babineau, Rampike

“The poems in Ball’s latest collection express, as so many of his earlier works do, keen observation of the natural world tightly wrought and sparsely told.” — Travis V. Mason, Canadian Literature

“Nelson Ball’s Almost Spring releases language that alters one’s perception of almost everything.” — Elizabeth Woods, 2000 Britannica Book of the Year

“At his best, Ball proves that short can be eloquent, and small beautiful.” — W. J. Keith, Canadian Book Review Annual

“Although he has worn glasses all the 40+ years that I have known him, there is nothing wrong with his vision.” — M. R. Appell, Tract