Lesley Choyce's poetry is transcendental, joyful and at times ecstatic, though rooted securely in the world. The new poems in Revenge of the Optimist are charged with a kind of soulful music and are distinguished by wide tonal flavours and range. Lesley Choyce has said of his writing that "Poetry arises from events, real or imagined, that stir the intellect and emotions to re-create, through words, the full impact of life's greatest challenges... the best poetry comes about from the compassion that develops in a writer, the compassion necessary to understand the pain and joy of others while at the same time being able to work with one's own suffering as a source for emotional honesty in all that is written." Book jacket.