First published 2023
This collection spans forty years of Canadian poet Dionne Brand's work, from 1982 to 2022. Scholar Christina Sharpe provides a critical introduction to Brand's poetry, which moves between intimate human experiences and vast cosmic scales. Brand writes against tyranny rather than toward justice, bearing witness to ongoing wars, rising fundamentalisms, and unnamed victims of contemporary violence. Her poems leap from present erosion to unknown galaxies, from historical intimacy to unarmed moons. The collection captures both the brutal realities of current conflicts and the enduring textures of human emotion that persist despite global violence. Brand's consciousness reaches beyond present worlds and their constraints, imagining other times and places. Her poetry serves as both witness and liberation, documenting how people live now while pointing toward what lies beyond current enclosures and brutalities.
Genres: social-issues, poetry, canadian-literature, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: witness
Setting: Canada
Period: 1982-2022
Paperback · Penguin
Content warnings: violence