At the Quinte Hotel

This title is an acquisition.

A fluid, vibrant and kinetic riff on one of Al Purdy’s best-known poems, Bruce Alcock’s At the Quinte Hotel recalls the experimental, interpretive work of Norman McLaren. Using a celebrated CBC Radio recording of Purdy reading at the League of Canadian Poets in 1968, Bruce Alcock animates “At the Quinte Hotel” with a variety of handmade and computer-assisted techniques — oil paint on paper, charcoal drawings on paper, linoleum, bottle caps, wire, flowers, a neon sign, even an electric kettle. A poet waxes on about beer and flowers in a small-town basement tavern. He witnesses and joins a bar fight, which he wins. Seizing the opportunity to recite to a captive crowd, he tries to profit from the emotional effect of his poem...