by prfire | Jun 7, 2016 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Poetry
Rosanna Deerchild’s second book of poetry, calling down the sky, is a poetically and narratively powerful collection in which Deerchild bears witness to her mother’s experience in residential school, the long-term impacts of that trauma, and both women’s resiliency....
by prfire | Jan 11, 2016 | Book Reviews, Poetry
Though Laurie Kruk’s latest book of poems, My Mother Did Not Tell Stories, possesses an ambivalent title – storytelling either as a way of transferring lore around a kitchen table, or as a euphemism for lying – her poetry steers clear of added or extended meanings....
by prfire | Oct 15, 2015 | Book Reviews, Poetry
It is fortuitous that I began reading a book on quantum theory while reviewing this book. A poet like Don Domanski bears his words well enough, yet he steers us in the direction of the primordial soup. Not that his soup of words and physics isn’t glorious and radiant,...
by prfire | Jun 30, 2015 | Book Reviews, Poetry
There is such density in Tomas Tranströmer’s poetry, and such a wide range of images and concerns. It may be best to focus on several representative selections from different poems in this fine collection of his poetry and prose from 1954 to 2004, a half century of...
by prfire | Dec 18, 2014 | Book Reviews, Poetry
The first as well as the most lasting impression of Laisha Rosnau’s third book of poetry can best be summed up as “young-maternal.” Rosnau writes from an internal reckoning based in the centre of her body. Her pursuit of themes is uterine grounded. Not that most of...
by prfire | Jul 16, 2014 | Book Reviews, Poetry
What an odd title for a book of poems. I conjure up a beast, or a fantastic creature like the shadow in Robert Munsch’s children’s story The Dark. The title poem concerns a woman with an eating disorder that has afflicted her throughout her life. Young focuses on our...
