Coke Machine Glow
“[Downie] writes in an accessible, entertaining way, but with a refined enough approach that his works can’t be dismissed as crude or simplistic.  When he wants, he can be quite funny, and he can drop Canadian references — Pierre Trudeau, Tim Horton's, hockey, Canada geese — without sounding like he’s trying to be Canadian.  His particular strength as a poet is his unusual, unexpected imagery… the words are exact, sensuous and satisfying.” —National Post“Downie’s fertile imagination can no longer be contained within the Hip alone.” —Nicholas Jennings,Maclean’s“Downie has a casually attentive way with words; each one does its work without mystification or excess.  At a time when poetry has mostly turned away from large-scale social realities, he bridges deftly and persistently between personal and national narratives.  Like Greg Curnoe and Stan Rogers, he never learned that ‘here’ is a four-letter word.” —Robert Everett-Green,Globe and Mail“Coke Machine Glow…is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated poetry collection in recent memory…Downie doesn’t disappoint…[He] is something of a national treasure.” —Calgary Herald“Coke Machine Glowis a wildly enjoyable read…[Downie] writes of and from hotel rooms, hotel bars and diners, giving us a peek at the often boring and lonely, but occasionally exhilarating, life of a travelling performer.” —Moe Berg,Globe and Mail“[Downie’s] gentle irongy and clever conceptual turns are thoroughly contemporary and undeniably original…Downie’s debut…possess[es] a distinct, personal vision and reintroduces whimsy and humour to an artform often hobbled by its own self-importance — laudable achievements for any first book.” —Kevin Connolly,eye Weekly“Songs like “Thirty-eight Years Old,’ ‘Wheat Kings’ and ‘Nautical Disaster’ have inspired a new generation of Canadian poets by demonstrating how relevant, contemporary narratives can be rendered in provocative yet accessible verse…[H]is best poems [are] elegantly understated…” —Quill and Quire