Sinners Dance by Darrell Epp

“Epp subverts standard poetic values, offering poems that parody poems… Always exciting and fun, Epp’s dense, snakelike poems will wrap and crush your heart.”

– Prof. Jonathan Ball, Winnipeg Free Press

“Sinners Dance places the reader in a pre-apocalyptic world, clearly recognizable as our own …There is wit in Epp’s writing, but the overall view of life is bleak, the guardians of our civilization blind, the maps deceiving.”
– Bernadette Rule, Hamilton Review of Books

“Epp’s poems have a distinct Hamilton flavour, he also says there are certain truths and experiences everyone can identify with, no matter where they live.”
– Emma Reilly, Interview & Feature in the Hamilton Spectator

“Another thing about Sinners Dance, Epp is getting wiser. So many of these poems wrap up the frayed edges of our thinking. Today’s book of poetry isn’t suggesting that Darrell Epp suddenly has the answer to everything, instead his poetry leads us, without impediment, to the right questions.”
– Michael Dennis, Today’s Book of Poetry

In a desperate bid to slow down time, an unreliable narrator picks fights with washed-up child stars, scheming super-villains and poly- ester-clad draculas. Lost in a maze of hastily-erected condo towers, lugging his trick bag bursting with obsolete gadgets and wrong num-bers, he hunts for salvation or at least a few clues. Steeltowns’ giant pistons and wheelhouses are so silent now, you can hear a drunken muse tiptoeing through the blood-stained hall of mirrors.

Sinners Dance is Darrell Epp’s third collection of poems following hot on the heels of After Hours (Mosaic Press, 2016), a book the Winnipeg Free Press called “A fun, sly jumble of poems that often tackle weighty issues” and Canadian Literature called “ something quite wonderful.”

Darrell Epp’s poetry has appeared in dozens of magazines including Maisonneuve, Poetry Ireland, Sub-Terrain, and The Saranac Review. His previous poetry collection include Imaginary Maps (Signature Editions, 2009) and After Hours(Mosaic Press, 2016). Darrell lives in Hamilton, Ontario.