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Poems based on witnessed and lived experience that bridge literary and activist worlds.
See her? / Steadfast and firm her / branches graze the mantle of quiet clouds / as she elaborates her claim
Haunted by indifference toward systemic violences and the disregard endured by those people labelled as "problems," nancy viva davis halifax’s poems articulate the constraints of discredited lives.
Conveying her experiences witnessing homelessness, poverty, disability, and chronic illness on the streets and within women's emergency shelters, davis halifax orients readers to recognize ongoing suffering in our society. One poem, a purl of four words, reminds the reader that language entangles and unbinds lives, and that life is an unfastening, a knitting by which some are lost and others made separable.
These are unregulated poems, poems that refuse indifference and reassert mutuality. They are not an argument, they are not assured, not facts, not a problem, not a resource, but an opening.
Haunted by indifference toward systemic violences and the disregard endured by those people labelled as "problems," nancy viva davis halifax’s poems articulate the constraints of discredited lives.
Conveying her experiences witnessing homelessness, poverty, disability, and chronic illness on the streets and within women's emergency shelters, davis halifax orients readers to recognize ongoing suffering in our society. One poem, a purl of four words, reminds the reader that language entangles and unbinds lives, and that life is an unfastening, a knitting by which some are lost and others made separable.
These are unregulated poems, poems that refuse indifference and reassert mutuality. They are not an argument, they are not assured, not facts, not a problem, not a resource, but an opening.
Details
Part of the Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series (number 33 in series)
94 Pages, 5.5 x 7.5
ISBN 9780773545809
August 2015
Formats: Paperback, eBook
"With her new collection, hook, poet nancy viva davis halifax reports back from her experiences working in emergency shelters and on the streets of Toronto. She positions herself as an ally of her subjects [and] while their object is political, the poems are lyrical and rely on the particulars of the outer world to reveal the inner lives of their speakers." ARC Poetry Magazine
nancy viva davis halifax is associate professor in the Faculty of Health at York University.
Index 3
Chain I 4
Chain II 5
Chain III 6
Intake 7
Not as Important as 8
What Is Said 9
Uses of the Dead 10
Nottingham, c. 1832 11
Industry 12
The Sound of Rain - Booth, c. 1879 13
The Army Marches into Canada, c. 1882 14
Toronto, c. 1931 15
Lotte 16
Toronto, c. 2013 17
Medication Time - 8 a.m. - Margrit 18
Double Love-Knot 19
Narissa 20
Betty 21
Valerie 22
Margrit 23
Medication Time - 6 p.m. - Maude 24
The Chaplain 26
Marge 29
Medication Time - 8 p.m. - Gwin and Celeste 30
A Life Composed, Age Thirteen 32
Butterfly Stitch 33
House 34
Each Body Remembers the Necessary Distance between
Beds 35
Hook 36
Gwin 37
Rita 38
Marnie & Sahs 39
Old Hotel 41
Krysta 42
The House - Imagined 43
Homes 44
Roommate 46
Headlines 47
Have You Seen this Child? 48
Awake, the Embers around Us Dying 49
A Life Composed, Age Eleven 50
A Life Composed, Age Twelve 51
What to Do if Your Country Stops Breathing 53
Approaching Sorrow 54
She Waited 55
This Cup Is that Colour 56
Curbside 57
Blueprint 58
The Appearance of Improbable Contingencies 59
Pineapple Pattern 60
Lullaby - Gardiner Expressway 61
Housing Studies 63
Classical Conditioning 64
Kandi 65
The Direction of Memory 66
Fare 67
Three Strikes 69
Emergency 71
Nos voisines 72
Persistence at the Threshold - LizaKim 74
Prayer to Prayer to Prayer (Grace) 75
On Monday Night, Jenny 77
Pigeons: Southwest Corner, 5 a.m. 78
As I Read What Is of Less and Less Interest 79
The Commons (a Chorus) 80
Acknowledgments 83
Chain I 4
Chain II 5
Chain III 6
Intake 7
Not as Important as 8
What Is Said 9
Uses of the Dead 10
Nottingham, c. 1832 11
Industry 12
The Sound of Rain - Booth, c. 1879 13
The Army Marches into Canada, c. 1882 14
Toronto, c. 1931 15
Lotte 16
Toronto, c. 2013 17
Medication Time - 8 a.m. - Margrit 18
Double Love-Knot 19
Narissa 20
Betty 21
Valerie 22
Margrit 23
Medication Time - 6 p.m. - Maude 24
The Chaplain 26
Marge 29
Medication Time - 8 p.m. - Gwin and Celeste 30
A Life Composed, Age Thirteen 32
Butterfly Stitch 33
House 34
Each Body Remembers the Necessary Distance between
Beds 35
Hook 36
Gwin 37
Rita 38
Marnie & Sahs 39
Old Hotel 41
Krysta 42
The House - Imagined 43
Homes 44
Roommate 46
Headlines 47
Have You Seen this Child? 48
Awake, the Embers around Us Dying 49
A Life Composed, Age Eleven 50
A Life Composed, Age Twelve 51
What to Do if Your Country Stops Breathing 53
Approaching Sorrow 54
She Waited 55
This Cup Is that Colour 56
Curbside 57
Blueprint 58
The Appearance of Improbable Contingencies 59
Pineapple Pattern 60
Lullaby - Gardiner Expressway 61
Housing Studies 63
Classical Conditioning 64
Kandi 65
The Direction of Memory 66
Fare 67
Three Strikes 69
Emergency 71
Nos voisines 72
Persistence at the Threshold - LizaKim 74
Prayer to Prayer to Prayer (Grace) 75
On Monday Night, Jenny 77
Pigeons: Southwest Corner, 5 a.m. 78
As I Read What Is of Less and Less Interest 79
The Commons (a Chorus) 80
Acknowledgments 83
