In her first poetry collection in more than a decade, celebrated novelist and poet Lynn Crosbie creates a sustained and confessional record of her father’s illness.
The Corpses of the Future is a sustained, confessional new collection of poems by Lynn Crosbie. It tells the story of her father’s battle with frontotemporal dementia and blindness following a stroke. The poems chronologically recount the poet’s conversations and time with her father and capture his still-astonishing means of communicating. The book’s title is his sardonic remark. Crosbie considers dementia to be a symbolic language, and as such similar to poetry. The author’s attempts to understand her father’s distress, pain, fear, and brave love are assisted by her understanding of the “negative capability” required of readers of poetry.
This is a harrowing book, with moments of joy and even levity. It is a collection of poetry about love, and love’s persistence, even under the most unspeakable circumstances.
In her first poetry collection in more than a decade, celebrated novelist and poet Lynn Crosbie creates a sustained and confessional record of her father’s illness.
The Corpses of the Future is a sustained, confessional new collection of poems by Lynn Crosbie. It tells the story of her father’s battle with frontotemporal dementia and blindness following a stroke. The poems chronologically recount the poet’s conversations and time with her father and capture his still-astonishing means of communicating. The book’s title is his sardonic remark. Crosbie considers dementia to be a symbolic language, and as such similar to poetry. The author’s attempts to understand her father’s distress, pain, fear, and brave love are assisted by her understanding of the “negative capability” required of readers of poetry.
This is a harrowing book, with moments of joy and even levity. It is a collection of poetry about love, and love’s persistence, even under the most unspeakable circumstances.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Apr 8, 2017 |
| Specifications | 160 pages | 5.5 in x 8.5 in |
| Keywords | father daughter relationship; alzheimers; disability; grief; chronological; liar; where did you sleep last night; when breath becomes air; gratitude; death and dying; canlit; women writers; canadian poetry; the book of folly anne sexton; the pedestrians rachel zuckner; poetry lovers; |
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Excerpt |
| Written By | Lynn Crosbie is a cultural critic, author, and poet. She teaches at the Ontario College of Art and Design and the University of Toronto. |
| Written By |
| Lynn Crosbie is a cultural critic, author, and poet. She teaches at the Ontario College of Art and Design and the University of Toronto. |
Commended, A GLOBE AND MAIL TOP 100 BOOK, 2017
“[U]nswerving in honesty and high in impact. . . . You'd have to be half-dead or worse not to weep, rejoice and rage when the speakers of these poems take you to the edge and offer ‘some faint, still powerful memories, of love and mercy’ as salve.” —Globe and Mail
“Crosbie at her best.” —Hamilton Review of Books