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act normal |
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Poems that evoke lives lost to our shared present, contesting normative claims that separate bodies into categories and institutions.
i might never be no-one that shiny / the beauty of a sequin’d self / what was stitched into heaven’s drop
The poems in act normal use illegibility and wilful uncertainty to evade the grasp of the normative, as endured by those institutionalized by, and through, the concept of normalcy.
act normal starts in an institution where children categorized and constructed as intellectually inferior are placed into custodial care. These poems are inquisitive, articulating the entanglements of lives across categories of difference - particularly the lives of those who as children were considered to be other or less than human. Drawing upon conversations, archival materials, court cases, legislation, transcripts, and case histories, among other sources, nancy davis halifax’s poems destabilize categories of meaning - understanding disability and difference as “undecidability.”
act normal is a movement of “feelingthought,” unsettling normative expectations and inviting readers to re-orient from the normative task of assuming the safety of consensual interpretation, while risking, cherishing, and performing non-indifference.
The poems in act normal use illegibility and wilful uncertainty to evade the grasp of the normative, as endured by those institutionalized by, and through, the concept of normalcy.
act normal starts in an institution where children categorized and constructed as intellectually inferior are placed into custodial care. These poems are inquisitive, articulating the entanglements of lives across categories of difference - particularly the lives of those who as children were considered to be other or less than human. Drawing upon conversations, archival materials, court cases, legislation, transcripts, and case histories, among other sources, nancy davis halifax’s poems destabilize categories of meaning - understanding disability and difference as “undecidability.”
act normal is a movement of “feelingthought,” unsettling normative expectations and inviting readers to re-orient from the normative task of assuming the safety of consensual interpretation, while risking, cherishing, and performing non-indifference.
Details
Part of the Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series (number 80 in series)
112 Pages, 5 x 7.5
28 illustrations
ISBN 9780228018711
October 2023
Formats: Paperback, eBook
“act normal sings and bends. Hears and sees. It seizes the language by which the disabled have been represented and re-presents them beyond ‘the grasp of the normative as endured by [the] institutionalized.’ It calls to account. It tells and remembers, celebrates and witnesses with invention, beauty, rage, and insight. ‘Do not say that you did not know … you have been told.’ These are words that surge over the unspeakable to create poems about what needs to be said. ‘We needs that caress.’” Gary Barwin
“‘The institution’s not a metaphor,’ writes davis halifax, who with foreslashed refusal (of ableism \ normopathy \ collusion \ eugenics), invites lyrical insurrections that might ‘fringe the day wider.’ We need wide days, my friends - days that can hold each story, each body, each ‘wordflower’ that wilds its blossom through the hard days of history. This is a book for ‘the disregarded and guarded,’ for those who have ‘lived loss.’ This is a book that resonates in places where you might find ‘the outlines of memories child shaped.’ This is a book for them, for us, for all those who continue to offer ‘exceptions[s] to the natural order.’ In this remarkable book, legacy and language conspire to ‘f e c u n d d e g e n e r a t e’ crisp futures that can love us all.” Chris Martin
“In this unflinching, brutally beautiful collection, davis halifax gives agency and voice to those who could not speak their own truth. These poems are an act of witness, at once tender and yearning, vulnerable and raging. There is an urgency to document ‘the heat before the fire is lit / the ache of the shovel before diggin’,’ to capture the abused and neglected in the strokes of letters because ‘by 2050 the books of memory will’ve been picked clean.’” Lillian Nećakov
“‘The institution’s not a metaphor,’ writes davis halifax, who with foreslashed refusal (of ableism \ normopathy \ collusion \ eugenics), invites lyrical insurrections that might ‘fringe the day wider.’ We need wide days, my friends - days that can hold each story, each body, each ‘wordflower’ that wilds its blossom through the hard days of history. This is a book for ‘the disregarded and guarded,’ for those who have ‘lived loss.’ This is a book that resonates in places where you might find ‘the outlines of memories child shaped.’ This is a book for them, for us, for all those who continue to offer ‘exceptions[s] to the natural order.’ In this remarkable book, legacy and language conspire to ‘f e c u n d d e g e n e r a t e’ crisp futures that can love us all.” Chris Martin
“In this unflinching, brutally beautiful collection, davis halifax gives agency and voice to those who could not speak their own truth. These poems are an act of witness, at once tender and yearning, vulnerable and raging. There is an urgency to document ‘the heat before the fire is lit / the ache of the shovel before diggin’,’ to capture the abused and neglected in the strokes of letters because ‘by 2050 the books of memory will’ve been picked clean.’” Lillian Nećakov
nancy viva davis halifax is associate professor in Critical Disability Studies in the Faculty of Health at York University. Their most recent collection is hook.
Introduction 3
SOUNDBAR 7
1927 8
1928 12
do not say that you did not know 1960 15
williston 1971 : failure & inhumanity 16
a better chance of prevailin’ 17
the government knew : they did nothing 18
asylum 19
35 million $ 20
3 kilometres away 22
the constitution of subjects 23
act normal : a charm 25
beauty at the proper distance \ in song 27
listenin’ over a distance 28
lake simcoe 29
the lonely laws ] hmmm [ 30
nasty 32
do you know why you’re here 33
lithics 35
escape 36
UNSPEAKABLE : WORDS
a \ b \ c 38
d \ f 39
i 40
j \ l \ m 41
p \ r \ s 42
& what if you cannot 43
raven 1952 45
if you want to know more 46
uncalculable 47
some kind of astronaut 49
prevention & correction 51
radford writes : 53
their fear intends a future barren of 54
apology (under erasure) 55
the gravity of carrots 57
rct 58
what is left 59
the lighting of the wards 61
to fail more fully 63
the lack of an absolute 64
] that the after me is uncertain is certain [ 65
a distance to ease the lonely 66
the writin’ of happy begins :
what i can & cannot 67
the buildin’s not the cure 68
matters of care 70
you are just ] for those who were & are [ 71
consent to investigation treatment or operative procedure 73
a threat had to exist in order to expand & sustain the institution 74
there is ] must be [ evidence : an “inquiry into the adequacy of care” 1848 75
the weight of disregard 76
a complete severin 78
redacted : stigmata of degeneracy 79
vii
systematic action of a will upon another
in view of its improvement 81
in its statement of defence, the province denied
that any abuse or mistreatment happened at the institution 82
properly applied sterilization will be of great benefit to humanity 84
something your mother crocheted \ held next to skin \ 85
Notes 87
Select Bibliography 89
With Gratitude 91
SOUNDBAR 7
1927 8
1928 12
do not say that you did not know 1960 15
williston 1971 : failure & inhumanity 16
a better chance of prevailin’ 17
the government knew : they did nothing 18
asylum 19
35 million $ 20
3 kilometres away 22
the constitution of subjects 23
act normal : a charm 25
beauty at the proper distance \ in song 27
listenin’ over a distance 28
lake simcoe 29
the lonely laws ] hmmm [ 30
nasty 32
do you know why you’re here 33
lithics 35
escape 36
UNSPEAKABLE : WORDS
a \ b \ c 38
d \ f 39
i 40
j \ l \ m 41
p \ r \ s 42
& what if you cannot 43
raven 1952 45
if you want to know more 46
uncalculable 47
some kind of astronaut 49
prevention & correction 51
radford writes : 53
their fear intends a future barren of 54
apology (under erasure) 55
the gravity of carrots 57
rct 58
what is left 59
the lighting of the wards 61
to fail more fully 63
the lack of an absolute 64
] that the after me is uncertain is certain [ 65
a distance to ease the lonely 66
the writin’ of happy begins :
what i can & cannot 67
the buildin’s not the cure 68
matters of care 70
you are just ] for those who were & are [ 71
consent to investigation treatment or operative procedure 73
a threat had to exist in order to expand & sustain the institution 74
there is ] must be [ evidence : an “inquiry into the adequacy of care” 1848 75
the weight of disregard 76
a complete severin 78
redacted : stigmata of degeneracy 79
vii
systematic action of a will upon another
in view of its improvement 81
in its statement of defence, the province denied
that any abuse or mistreatment happened at the institution 82
properly applied sterilization will be of great benefit to humanity 84
something your mother crocheted \ held next to skin \ 85
Notes 87
Select Bibliography 89
With Gratitude 91
