Jeff Kirby (known as just “Kirby” to most) is seated at a small table in Rick’s Cafe. The long-running Kensington Market coffee shop is nestled on Augusta, close to Big Fat Burrito on one side and El Trompo Tacos on the other. Kirby is gesturing to a beautifully-organized series of display shelves at the front of the cafe, all holding poetry – all kinds of poetry, much of it independently-published and Canadian. Offerings from BookThug and Coach House stand alongside titles from Metatron, and there’s a deep box filled to the brim with chapbooks from Desert Pets Press, above/ground, Anstruther Press, Vallum and more. This is knife|fork|book – Toronto’s newest poetry bookshop and community space. Like a good meal, this perfect little space draws you in, makes you warm, fills you up.
knife | fork | book 