Sad to hear that Toronto poet David Dowker has died, after an extended illness. He was always quietly generous with other writers, slipping into small press fairs to say hello, making his way from table to table. I first heard his name in the 1990s, through his online journal Alterran Poetry Assemblage, probably first through the SUNY-Buffalo list-serve, offering publication to a whole range of experimental poets and poetry, showcasing work that pushed at the boundaries of what might be possible. He was a champion for experimental writing, although never one to push his own work too hard, although that was there, also. Some of his publications over the years include Machine Language (Toronto ON: BookThug, 2010), Virtualis: Topologies of the Unreal (with Christine Stewart; BookThug, 2013) [see my review of such here], Mantis (Tuczon AZ: Chax Press, 2018) and Dissonance Engine (Book*hug, 2022) [see my review of such here]. I was fortunate enough to produce a chapbook of his, Chronotope (2021), through above/ground press, he guest-edited issue #23 of GUEST [a journal of guest editors] in 2022, and I interviewed him in 2019 for Touch the Donkey [a small poetry journal]. He had been an above/ground press subscriber and supporter for more years than I can count, and always attempted to come through small press fairs to say hello if I was ever in Toronto. I shall miss his quiet dedication and attentiveness. He was a kind man.
