A biography of one of Canada's leading poets. Traces Acorn's roots in Prince Edward Island and shows that family, landscape, and the troubled shades of postcolonial society were continuous spurs to his creative life. Connects his self-perpetuated image as a working-class rebel, and his peculiar brand of communism, to his employment history and experience of war. His troubled relationships with family and friends, and his ill health, are explored as sources both of pain and inspiration. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Out of this World is a lively biography of Canada's "People's Poet," Milton Acorn, exploring – and exposing – his larger-than-life myths, and tracing his tragic rise and fall: from his youth in Charlottetown, to Montréal in the late '50s, to Toronto and Vancouver in the '60s. His poetry was at once political and personal, informed by both Marxist dogma and intimate experience; his voice unique among Canadian poets. For better or worse, Acorn fearlessly and recklessly embraced life as only he could. A man of great myth, and the subject of much speculation, Acorn died having established himself as one of Canada's most celebrated and popular poets.

"Published in its intended form for the first time, I Want to Tell You Love is a remarkable collaboration from bill bissett and Milton Acorn that captures the spirit of the sixties. bill bissett and Milton Acorn are two of Canada's most significant, and most controversial, literary figures. In the 1960s, bissett's renown as an experimental poet was growing as his social and political concerns were stirred by the voice of the counterculture. Acorn, inspired by socialist theory and imagism, was building his reputation as a poet on the margin who ran against the grain of the literary establishment. Both were rising towards cultural prominence--one, a true beatnik and the other, a certifiably rugged lyric poet. In 1965 they came together in a remarkable collaboration, a challenge to the established literary tradition and a call for a better world. Published for the very first time, I Want to Tell You Love is the combination of bissett and Acorn's seemingly incongruous poetics to confront the turbulent and swiftly changing world of the 1960s. A collection of poems and illustrations, it is a window into the lives and motivations of two soon-to-be-canonized cultural figures. I Want to Tell You Love is a work of friendship, a shared vision of resistance, and a mutual longing for a better world. This critical edition offers the manuscript in its intended form alongside contextualizing scholarship in a significant contribution to literary history. I Want to Tell You Love offers an opportunity to reevaluate the nature and scope of Canadian poetry during a critical time of national cultural awakening."--

Known as The Peoples Poet, Acorn won the Canadian Poetry Prize in 1970 and the Governor Generals Award in 1975.