A prodigious body of innovative writing behind him, Robert Kroetsch turns to a starker lyrical mode in Too Bad: Sketches Toward a Self-Portrait. Oscillating between the many moods of a human heart that has lived through so much?from whimsy and scorn through desire, longing, lust, love, and serenity?these sketches mark a candid walk through the tortuous corridors of the poet?s remembering, and exemplify the rehearsed dictum of an old teacher: ?Every enduring poem was written today.? Simply put, ?This book is not an autobiography. It is a gesture toward a self-portrait, which I take to be quite a different kettle of fish.? -- Robert Kroetsch, from the Introduction