poetry

To kiss the hybrid future à travers un voile

Entre Rive and Shore, Dominique Bernier-Cormier. icehouse poetry, 2023.

Tout d’abord: wow. These were the first words that came to mind en mijotant sur how and where to begin a review of Dominique Bernier-Cormier’s multigenre, multi-temporal and dimensional, highly allusive, bilingual+ Entre Rive and Shore...

A book I find myself returning to is Maggie Burton’s poetry collection, Chores. Captivating from the opening lines, with uncomplicated language and vivid, visceral images, Burton revisits the day-to-day events of domestic life and women’s labour that are often overlooked. Bringing tenderness to the struggles of survival, these poems stir up nostalgia for home and beloved grandmothers.  

Editorial Assistant Jamie Kitts' Interview with Jaeyun Yoo whose poem "have you seen my father" won our 2023 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize and was published in Issue 299 (Spring 2024)

Jaeyun Yoo is a Korean-Canadian poet, psychiatrist, and graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio. A Best of the Net nominee, her poems have appeared in Room, Canthius, CV2, and elsewhere. She published a collaborative chapbook, Brine, with Harbour Centre 5, a collective of emerging poets.

Editorial Assistant Rosie Leggott's Interview with Blair Trewartha whose poems "Sifto" and "Equal Temperament" were published in Issue 298 (Winter 2024)

Blair Trewartha’s first collection of poetry, Easy Fix (Palimpsest, 2014) was shortlisted for the Relit Award. He is the author of three chapbooks: Break In (Cactus Press, 2010), Porcupine Burning (Baseline Press, 2012), and human energy (Anstruther Press, 2022). His poetry has appeared in several journals.

Nestle In Words Like An Animal: The Poetic G/Rasp of Tongue, Throat, and Mouth in G by Kirby

G, Klara du Plessis & Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi. Palimpsest Press, 2023.

First, let’s talk about the design/packaging of this book.

It’s exquisite. The colour palette, fonts, printed endpapers, on signature Coach House zephyr, readable text on the page. A book you want to pick up, hold, caress with the eyes and the touch. Congrats to in-house designer Ellie Hastings, editor Jim Johnstone, and publisher Aimee Parent Dunn. Finery.

Lyrical Authenticity by Klara du Plessis

The King of Terrors, Jim Johnstone. Coach House Books, 2023.

Cautious Praise by Lynn Davies

Lent, Kate Cayley, Book*hug Press, 2023.

In Lent, Kate Cayley’s voice is driven by doubt and occasional bouts of confidence. In “Falling,” she says matter-of-factly,

         I can’t find time to repair.

“Junkyard Apocalypse”: Uneasy Ecopoems, Unhomely Homes by David Huebert

Kill Your Starlings, Tom Cull. Gaspereau Press, 2023.

With the abundance of high caliber poetry books published each year in Canada, it’s extremely difficult to narrow down which specific poetry collections to recommend. The only criteria I can think of on which to base that recommendation is that feeling you get when you finish reading it. More than appreciation or admiration, it’s a deep sense of relief that you get and a genuine thankfulness that this book exists, and you were lucky enough to find it.