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Shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize 2003!!
This is a poem about the city. About a man who has visions, hovering on the edge but hating it, restless and at war with the world but wanting the peace that passeth understanding. Everything he does is half-done, except his death. When he falls, his parched spirit crying "thirsty," his family falls apart. This is a poem about Toronto, the city that’s never happened before, about waiting for a bus, standing on a corner, watching a stranger: the bank to one corner, the driving school on another, the milk store and the church. This is also about the poet, her own restless sensibility woven in and out through moments of lyric beauty, dramatic power and storytelling grace. It is written in the margins, like a medieval manuscript with shades of light and darkness.
BUY
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The ability to make history concrete by capturing the small, ordinary things of life along with a sense of broader historical actions is not found too frequently in English poetry, particularly in North America. Dionne Brand, however, is a significant exception. To read her poetry is to read not only about her but also about her people and their struggles both in Canada and the Caribbean.