Futher micronotes on what I completed in 2016.
- Taxi Cab Voice, an arrangement for Bill Hawkins by Neil Flowers (above/ground, 2016) — I liked the title poem
- Returning Two (Judith Copithorn, 1972)
- in search of the perfect loaf: a home baker’s odyssey by Samuel Fromartz (Viking/Penguin, 2014) — extensively obsessively researched, and such enthusiasm is catching
- Switching off the Shadows by Ruby Spriggs (King’s Road Press, 1996)
- We are the dreamers: recent and early poems by Rita Joe (Breton Books, 1999)
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel & Grau, 2015) – concurring with the world, insightful, articulate, personal and moving
- The immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Crown, 2010) — eye-opening in many ways, of medicine and of black history in the U.S.
- the bird philomela: poems, edited by natalie hanna (Battleaxe Press, 2016)
- Ru by Kim Thuy (Vintage Canada, 2012) — liked this even less than her other
- Conjugation by Phil Hall (BookThug, 2016) — fun to read
- The World, I guess by George Bowering (New Star Books, 2015)— super-uneven but the best parts were great
- Luna Moth and other poems by Steve Luxton (DC books, 2004)— finally read one of his books
- Framework: Words on the land (A fieldwork project, 2016) — lovely introduction to some writers I haven’t read
- Notes on Drowning by rob mclennan (Broken Jaw, 1998) — worth the re-read, one of my favs of his
- even this page is white by Vivek Shraya (Arsenal, 2016) — now in its 3rd print run, with reason. passionate read.
- Olio by Tyhimba Jess (Wave Books, 2016) — masterfully made. Hugely complex to construct and interesting
- And Once More Saw the Stars: Four poems for two voices by P.K. Page & Philip Stratford (Buschek, 2001) — interesting, on the cusp of top recommendations
- The Glory of Love, selected by Helen Exley (Exley, NY, Waterford UK) — verse
- Dangling Modifiers: haiku & senryu by Mike Montreuil (Alba publishing, 2016) — urban haiku by a Canadian great
- That Night We Were Ravenous by John Steffler (M&S, 2007) — hugely absorbing to read
- L’dor Vador: a collection of poems inspired by there people’s recipes, ed. Marilyn Irwin (Shreeking Violet, 2016)
- A Formerly United Kingdom, ed by John Martone (otata’s bookshelf, 2016) — experimental
- Lean days by Steve McOrmond (coach house books, 2004) — enjoyable to re-read
- Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew (Little, Brown and Company, 2015) — wanted to read this since before it came out, read it all aloud. worthwhile,
- Leaving Holds Me Here: Selected Poems by Glen Sorestad (Thistledown, 2001) — enjoyable read
- The Sacred Path Companion: A Guide to Walking the Labyrinth to Heal and Transform by Lauren Artress (Riverhead books, 2006) — a little randomly ordered and under-edited but interesting nonetheless
- name, an errant by rob mclennan (stride, 2006)
- All Inclusive by Farzana Doctor (Dundurn, 2015) — a foray into my reading novels. What she had read at readings was the family-friendly bits
- But even so by Kenneth Patchen (New Directions, 1968) — not his best
- Ceremony of Touching by Karen Shklanka (Couteau, 2016) — not my cuppa
- Prince Caspian: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (Harper, 1951) — oh, good to have the cultural touchstone
- Look at Her: a book of poetry by Vanessa Shields (Black Moss, 2016)
- Seed Catalogue by Robert Kroetsch (Turnstone, 1977, 1986) — glad to re-read
- Beatitudes by Herménégilde Chiasson, trans by Jo-Anne Elder (Goose Lane, 2007) — bit of a drag since the vision of people is so dark and dreary but wishing them well
- Emanations: Fluttertongue 6 by Steven Ross Smith (BookThug, 2015)
- Cascadia by Brenda Hillman (Wesleyan, 2001) — intense to read her books in series.
- CK Williams: Collected Poems (Farrar, Strous and Giroux, 2006)— very trad
- Practical Water by Brenda Hillman (Wesleyan, 2003)– no stylistic distinctions marked by which element she is focussing on
- Digsite: poems by Owain Nicholson (Nightwood, 2016) – subject is interesting of archeology
- If I were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You by Adele Barclay (Nightwood, 2016)
- Neighbourhood Tokyo by Theodore C Bestor (Stanford U Press, 1989) – sociobiology
- Gusts: Contemporary Tanka No. 24, fall/winter 2016
- Pieces of Air in the Epic by Brenda Hillman (Wesleyan, 2005) – okay, made it thru. liking each book less. will I do the 4th?
- Frozen Potato Chips Hard Boiled Eggs Coke Not Pepsi: (printed photoexstatically, 2016)
- Haiku Canada Review (Vol 10, No 2, October 2016)
- The Black Unicorn: poems by Audre Lorde (Norton, 1978) — powerful in a different way than her last collection
- Cabins: A Guide to Building your own nature retreat by David & Jeanie Stiles (A Firefly Book, 2001, 2015 9th printing) – fun
- The Cabin: A Memoir by Munira Judith Avinger (Forest Books, 2012) – a life story in a broad sense, you get to know the person
- Emergency Poems by Nicanor Parra, trans by Miller Williams (New Directions, 1972) – some of these are or should be canon
- Alphabetique: 26 Character Fictions by Molly Peacock, illstr. by Kara Kosaka (M&S, 2014) — weird.
- Wabigoon River: Poems by David Groulx (Kegedonce, 2015)
- The Outsider by Albert Camus (Penguin Classic, 1942, 2000) — super dark
- Walsh: a play by Sharon Pollock (Talon books, 1973) — glad to read the classic
- A Hamburger in a Gallery by Stuart Ross (DC Books, 2015)
- Succulent: A zine about healing, hope and happiness by Asia Barclay — life as a journey spoken bravely
- Hominids by Robert J Sawyer (Tor, 2002) — fascinating timeline. I’d read another by him.
- The World Afloat by M.A.C. Farrant (Talon, 2014)
- Dream Punk by Ronald Seatter (A Bywords Publication, 2016)
- Designated Mourner: poems by Catherine Owen (ECW, 2014) – wow, heavy. glad I waited until my own grief was a smaller creature.
- The White Cliffs by Alice Duer Miller (Coward-McCann, 1940)
- Lanark County Chronicles: Double Back to the Third Line by Arlene Stafford-Wilson (Self-published, 2013)
- Crawlspace: new and selected poems by Monty Reid (Anansi, 1993) — neat to see his poems recontextualized this way.
- Labour and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network by Ruth Romberg-Muñoz (Oxford U, 2011)— so much new information. great long term case studies.
- Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Oregon State U, 2003) – everyone should read this. native biologist perspective on all the species organized by themed anecdotes.
- Utopia by Thomas More, trans by Paul Turner (1516, Penguin Classics) – so that’s where Mao was coming from. dissonant idea of whose utopia. Trump’s maybe?
- Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote (Arsenal, 2016) – awesomeness. everyone get it.
- all of us, reticent, here, together by Stephen Brockwell (Mansfield, 2016) – hard to say if this is the best yet or my favourite but definitely worth re-reading
- Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by John Lewis with Michael D’Orso (Simon & Schuster, 1998) – play-by-play from within the movement.
- Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with your Values by Marshall B. Rosenberg (Puddledancer Press, 2005) – useful and worthwhile
- Across Borders by Xue Di, trans by Alison Friedman (Green Integer, 2013) – the notes on translation was the best part
- Adoration of the Unnecessary by John B Lee (A Beret Days Book, 2015) – title poem rocks
- On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood by Richard Harrison (Wolsak & Wynn, 2016) – some amazing poems in here.
- Variations in Gravity by Sneha Madhavan-Reese (Textualis, 2015)
- Desiré, In Three Brief Acts by Sanita Fejzic (Battleaxe, 2016)
- Conditionals by Pete Gibbon (Bird, Buried Press, 2016) – yup, buy this if you can
- Wind Leaves Absence by Mary Maxwell (Thistledown, 2016)
- The Long and the Short of It by Liam G Greig and Hannah Scott-Talib (Self-published, 2016)
- Ukrainian Daughter’s Dance: poems by Marion Mutala (Inanna, 2016)
- How to be Eaten by a Lion: poems by Michael Johnson (Nightwood, 2016)
- Burning in this Midnight Dream by Louise Bernice Halfe (Coteau Books, 2016)
- The Fifth Girl by May Chan (Pedlar Press, 2002)
- The Pain Tree by Olive Senior (Cormorant, 2015) – people will be reading this in 200 years
- A Perimeter by rob mclennan (A New Star Book, 2016)
- A Map in My Blood: poems by Carla Braidek (Thistledown, 2016) – so relatable, so inspiring. women that is strong and sure and becoming
- A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock by Evelyn Fox Keller (Holt Paperbacks, 1983)– who knew all this. wonderful look back
- The Hideous Hidden by Sylvia Legris (New Directions, 2016) – this lateral thinking music has song that creates a honey coating over the chemo pills of disease. a dissonance but distance, but nearness.
- Passage by Gwen Benaway (Kegedonce Press, 2016) – gorgeous book that feels like a book with an arc and change. the tones all harmonize and hard hits and fits smooth like waves against the word-built landscape.
- Domesticity by Sarah Swan (above/ground, 2016)