Scofflaw

Garry Thomas Morse

Image | BOOK COVER: Scofflaw by Garry Thomas Morse

(Anvil Press)

Scofflaw is a long poem, a playful exploration of Indigenous-Settler relations amid globalized pressures. For the most part, the poem is a lyrical dialectic flowing between a shadowy figure known as Scofflaw and an enigmatic "we." The content ranges from the effect of pesticides on Manitoba butterflies to the reworking of a John Newlove poem on Indigenous peoples to Native remains beneath the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The text culminates in a "lexicon standoff," where Scofflaw uses metaphysical means to avoid a character assassination, battling against the culling of words from the language. (From Anvil Press)