1996
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: March 6, 2017 4:54 PM | Last Updated: April 11, 2017
Sara Peters
Sara Peters' visionary debut collection is a book about obsessions — about desire, violence, sex, beauty and cruelty, about how they lace through our days, leaving us changed. In these startling poems of mystery and terror, we meet remarkable characters enduring unspeakable things, confronting the raw reality of existence through fearless candour. With profound clarity, elegance and humour, Sara Peters reminds us of the harrowing and beautiful complexity of life itself. 1996 marks the undeniable arrival of an essential and brave new voice. (From House of Anansi Press)
From the book
My soul and I, we were sensitive,
And our project was to process
Unrequited love —
So we pitched a tent near the ocean, at night,
In a field of chilled violets and lavender.
My soul nicknamed me Radical Embodiment.
Together, we scrambled down cliffs to the inlet,
Grabbing the same
Handfuls of poison oak,
Then we'd wade into the water,
Smoking, and later
We built a fire,
And did pagan twirls around it.
Doing this, I cringed,
Yet my soul pretended
Violent indifference, just
Folding its useless wings lest they be singed.
And our project was to process
Unrequited love —
So we pitched a tent near the ocean, at night,
In a field of chilled violets and lavender.
My soul nicknamed me Radical Embodiment.
Together, we scrambled down cliffs to the inlet,
Grabbing the same
Handfuls of poison oak,
Then we'd wade into the water,
Smoking, and later
We built a fire,
And did pagan twirls around it.
Doing this, I cringed,
Yet my soul pretended
Violent indifference, just
Folding its useless wings lest they be singed.
From 1996 by Sara Peters ©2013. Published by House of Anansi Press.