Poetry zine Sarah Mangold, above/ground press, c/o Rob Mclennan, RR#1 Maxville, Ontario, K0C 1T0, $4
A good poem often requires the reader to invest time to unlock its meaning, like worrying apart a finger puzzle. Sometimes a poem seems deliberately tricky, without aiming to articulate anything. I wanted to like these poems. I was initially drawn in by the bold imagery shivering behind the words, and was charmed by some of the imaginative phrasing. But this collection never quite gels. At times it seems like fridge magnet poetry or a collection of words randomly strung-together. As a nod to the title, some cake imagery is mixed in, but it seems like a strained attempt to have some unifying thread. Overall, the poems feel more inchoate than innovative. With Cupcake Royale my patient reading was rewarded by a creeping feeling that I was superfluous in my role as reader — the writer is throwing a word party, but I didn’t get the invitation. (Danielle Patrick)