'A collected poems' is either a gravestone or a testimonial to survival.
Al Purdy

At a certain age you're always uncertain how other people will take you.
Al Purdy

For me, the vast marvel is to be alive. For man, or for flowers or beast or bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly and perfectly alive.
Al Purdy

I don't think I do have a soul.
Al Purdy

I started writing when I was about thirteen.
Al Purdy

I was desperately unhappy trying to adjust to the world.
Al Purdy

I'm not religious in any formal sense, not in any God sense.
Al Purdy

In my own mind, I was sort of a desperate kid.
Al Purdy

Things were so bad we ate rabbits that neighbours had run over and gave to us because they knew we were broke.
Al Purdy