Books
9 Canadian Poetry Collections We're Reading Right Now
Books
9 Canadian Poetry Collections We're Reading Right Now
New collections from homegrown poets give us an opportunity to comprehend and connect with our country in whole new ways.
If you’ve never read Canadian poetry, you’re missing out. Just like our revered homegrown musicians, comics, actors and novelists exemplify an inherent ‘Canadian-ness’ in their works that resonates with us, our national poets draw from that same deep-rooted well of inspiration. Cultural diversity, a rugged natural landscape, our bustling cosmopolitan cities, that deprecating sense of humour, the country’s complicated past and future: These elements are often explored in the works of all our national artists, poets included. Even themes as disparate as marriage and food, seemingly untethered to a sense of place, unfold through a Canadian lens in ways we all recognize.
The collections featured here use intricate threads of words to weave meditations on topics such as motherhood, diasporic identity, music and climate change, creating evocative, rich images in a minimum of words. From the pens of an award-winning Waterloo teenager, a P.E.I. fisherman and a Calgary-based radio host, among others, these new volumes of Canadian poetry are worth getting to know.
1. Forecast: pretty bleak by Chris Bailey
Image courtesy McClelland & Stewart
What's it all about?
This candid and humorous collection by a poet who’s also a graphic designer and commercial fisherman focuses on life in rural P.E.I. In poems that cover everything from climate change to love, family and work, the author uses the power of his words to get to the heart of life: that sometimes hope means simply looking for better weather tomorrow.
On fishing as a muse
“I’ve been a commercial fisherman for two-thirds of my life, so it makes sense that a lot of my poetry is rooted in that work and the landscape and the people,” says Bailey. “That job even influences the way I talk.”
2. Familial hungers by Christine Wu
Image courtesy Brick Books
What's it all about?
Familial Hungers centres around stories of identity, race and fractured relationships through the lens of food. Ginger scallion fish, Sichuan peppercorns, ginseng tea—Wu weaves a tale of expectations of immigrant daughters, language loss and more through these mouth watering allusions to life in 21st century Canada.
On food as muse
“I’m inspired by the cultural food-scape we live in—I’m always on the lookout at local farmers’ markets and grocery stores for new (or familiar, but unexpected) ingredients that make it into what I make for dinner and, subsequently, my poems,” says Wu. “I married into a big Newfoundland family, and I’ve made moose meat Pad Thai with the meat my in-laws sent home with us (there’s absolutely a poem in there that I hope to write soon).”
3. I am looking for you in the no-place grid by Adam Haiun
Image courtesy Coach House Books
What's it all about?
Adam Hauin’s debut asks the questions What do computers want from us? And what do we want from them? Written in a glitchy discordance like a computer gradually breaking down, Haiun’s poems form an uncomfortable narrative of computer intelligence infatuated—and then dissatisfied—with end users.
On the resonance of Canadian poetry
“Canadian poets express uncomfortable ideas, make the reader confront images both foreign and intimate,” says Haiun. “Instead of reading another poem about New York City, you can read a poem about a factory you see on your commute every day, which reckons with its history, which describes it in a way that is fresh and immediate.”
4. More songs the radio won't play by Stan Rogal
Image courtesy ECW Press
What's it all about?
Like your new favourite mix tape, Rogal’s poems use his way with words to transform the lyrics and ideas in popular songs into something different. Though infused with commentary on current world happenings, Rogal says, the point of this work—witty, profane and philosophical— is the journey of creating, not the end result.
On music as muse
“This concept came to me while listening to Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards’s “One More Song the Radio Won’t Like”—the idea of finding a medium—radio, TV, publishing, gallery—that deems your work worthy of sharing with their broader audience.”
5. Wellwater by Karen Solie
Image courtesy House of Anansi
What's it all about?
A look at how the concept of ‘value’ has weight in our current housing, economic and environmental crises, Karen Solie’s sixth poetry collection tells stories of persistence and hope. Juxtaposing tales of man-made dystopian struggles and the natural world’s ability to renew itself, Wellwater is full of complex ideas that speak to resilience of both people and our environment, and look to ways we can move forward at peace with our world.
On why her poems reflect Canada
“Growing up on my family’s farm in southwest Saskatchewan formed the basis of my relationship to landscape, scale, weather and even language,” says Solie. “That place and time created my first map of the world, against which all others are held in relief.”
6. Parade of storms by Evelyn Lau
Image courtesy Anvil Press
What's it all about?
Storms, floods, wildfires—Evelyn Lau’s 10th volume delves into eco poetry, a genre that gained prominence during the COVID19 pandemic. In this slim book, Lau uses weather, both physical and emotional, to explore themes of relationships, place, aging and more.
On why her poems reflect Canada
“Even when I’ve shied away from writing about Place, the backdrop of where one lives creates a mood and atmosphere through sensory details,” says Lau. “That’s true about Canada as well; without thinking too much about what makes one ‘Canadian,’ we soak up so many traits and attitudes just by living here that they inevitably find their way into creative work.”
7. Myth by Therese Mason Pierre
Image courtesy House of Anansi
What's it all about?
In three movements and two interludes, Terese Mason Pierre’s much-anticipated debut collection travels from tropical islands to barren cities, from reality to lucid dreams. Through the magic of her words, Myth explores our relationships to land, trauma, self, ancestry and the future— and asks how myths can manifest themselves in our everyday lives.
On drawing inspiration from Canada
“Living in Canada, I’m fortunate to witness in real time all the ways people connect and clash along their various boundaries, as well as the ways in which the land holds up a mirror to us, revealing history and future.”
8. I cut my tongue on a broken country by Kyo Lee
Image courtesy Arsenal Pulp Press
What's it all about?
Eighteen-year-old Kyo Lee’s debut collection unfolds as a coming-of-age story through intertwining poems of lineage, family, girlhood, war and hope. Through a queer, diasporic Korean lens, Lee’s poems walk a tender line between looking for love and what one loses on the journey to be where one ends up.
On why Canadian literature is so important
“When I read Canadian books, both poetry and prose, they feel like home to me in a way that other books don’t,” says Lee. “There is an indescribable quality to books written by people who share a circumstance with you, the reader, whether that circumstance is location, identity, relationship, or something else.”
9. I hope you remember by Josie Balka
Image courtesy Simon & Schuster
What's it all about?
A broadcaster and voiceover artist in Calgary, Balka is perhaps best known for her viral poems on social media that evoke universal themes with a nostalgic feel. This book corrals new and older works on family relationships, jealousy, love and grief—all told in clear, spare prose that is as affecting as it is easy to understand.
ON CANADA AS MUSE
“I think living in Canada plays a huge part in a lot of my writing, especially because a couple of major themes I tend to lean into are nostalgia and sentimentality. I believe one of the things that deeply evokes feelings of a time that is no more is the weather. Living in a beautiful place where you experience all four seasons gives me more of an ability to connect with old emotions.”
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