Paranoiac Utopia is inspired by one of the most unique communities in the world: Toronto’s own village of Parkdale. It stands out in many ways but in particular because it is where the Mad Pride movement began. The poems touch on Parkdale’s vibrant street life: both the shadowy, gritty side and its kaleidoscopic blend of cultures.  But the poems are also about me and how I am reflected in Parkdale’s streets.  How Parkdale “pours itself into my pen to syphon its darkness”. I inject into these poems a pre-Gutenbergian aesthetic, evoking the musicality that was lost with the coming of the printing press. In the background of many of the poems is a peripheral Greek chorus made up of Parkdale’s discarded population of the mentally ill. 

Christian “Squared” is that most redoubtable, inimitable poet… an unusual intellectual in Anglo-Canuck poesy... The gent sermonizes… ‘Whenever anyone speaks poetry, they stand on the threshold of melody.’  Yeah:  ‘Oral poets [be] outlaws, robbing the bank of the inner mind.’  Thinketh Xn, the edgiest poetry always edges toward song... Read ’im an’ rejoice! Behold! Thy blood no longer purrs through thy veins. Uh uh. Now, now, it roars!"
           – George Elliott Clarke 

These extraordinary poems challenge readers to a strenuous swim in their raging currents. Phrases strike hard, and those of us who favour authenticity over gentility will find that in spades, as elements of Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood get compelling exposure. Razor wit and potent imaginings merge with a rough-and-tumble lyricism that's equivalent to Dylan's and Cohen's – but wilder.
           – Allan Briesmaster, author of Windfor and Later Findings

Christian Christian’s Paranoiac Utopia immerses us in the hardscrabble, down-but-never-out streets of Parkdale in Toronto. Christian’s direct, passionate poems are savory, tough, frank, colourful, tumultuous and yet controlled. They combine elements of modern free verse with age-old traditions of “Beat”, protest, and vagabond poetry. The street-corner bard who chants and growls these lyrics is an artist learnèd beyond the academy.
– A.F. Moritz, author of Night Street Repairs and Conflicting Desire