Enlarge Image
To embed a link to this book on your own website, please copy the script below.
Following the successful reception of her first book, The Shining Material, comes Aisha Sasha John's THOU -- a powerful collection of two long, narrative poems exploring the social space that exists between the self and others. Using the language that connects these two states ... Read more
Following the successful reception of her first book, The Shining Material, comes Aisha Sasha John's THOU -- a powerful collection of two long, narrative poems exploring the social space that exists between the self and others. Using the language that connects these two states of being, THOU investigates the idea of "you" -- what it is and what it means to say "you," the stories we make of our own multiple "yous," and by extension, the "you" an author can make of her own book. Building on the emotionally charged language of John's previous work, THOU will tantalize readers' senses, and will provoke comparisons to such acclaimed poets as Anne Carson (especially Glass, Irony and God) and Alice Notley.
Aisha Sasha John writes poetry and plays. Her work has appeared in The Capilano Review, Exile Quarterly, CV2, Carousel, and the Diaspora Dialogues anthology, TOK 3. In 2009, Aisha completed her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Guelph; in 2010/11, she's writing a play called Kissy Kissy as part of Nightwood Theatre's Write From the Hip program as well as Theatre Passe Muraille's theatre creators group, Upstarts.
Aisha Sasha John's THOU re-plays that archaic pronoun as a constantly present movement and rhythm of attention: moments. These lines of poetry "shakeÉa little" as the "I" narrates and choreographs a monologue of the self in motion; each page is the dance floor and John's words break through the "I-as-you" with anticipation and grace.
- Fred Wah
THOU is physical, fearless in its vulnerabilities, a sensing amid thought's most succulent folds. THOU is a choreography of irresolute bodies, the insistent shifting of their positions. Aisha Sasha John is a poet of centrifugal energy, of reverberant intimacy.
- Michael Nardone
John is brilliant at communicating. She's also really funny. Poems don't get more direct and precise and unforgettable than this.
-The National Post
"...a truly beautiful book and a rare gift..."
- Broken Pencil
To read this book is to experience the poem happening to you - and to want in.
- Gillian Jerome for 49th Shelf
Sign Up or Sign In to add your review or comment.
I need family. I want community.
I need to read. I want to be read.
(from Shannon Webb-Campbell “Needs vs Wants” Still No Word)
What do we need to survive? What do we want to aid us ... Read more
We've got an all-Ontario slate of reading events this week. If you know of an event happening elsewhere, please feel free to add it in the comments, below!
Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event details, including ... Read more
This week! Escape the holiday season with poetry readings from Carolyn Smart and Pearl Pirie, a Banff Centre appearance from Giller winner Andre Alexis, and the BC Publishers' HOLIDAY HOOTENANNY (goodness we do love that word!).
Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose ... Read more
Did you know that Thursday is the most literary day of the week? While this isn't true all the time, it certainly is this instalment: with poetry readings and open mic nights, and a "nostalgia Canadiana" at the Art Gallery of Ontario's First Thursday.
Are you hosting an event ... Read more
This week: author dee Hobsbawn-Smith continues her What Can't Be Undone tour in BC, the Trillium Book Awards readings take place in Toronto, and Marilyn Dumont and Lee Maracle host an discussion on National Aboriginal Day. Plus more!
Are you hosting an event featuring an author ... Read more
It’s finally summer, and there’s all kinds of clichéd things we could say about how you’re going to have “fun in the sun” or “get your tan on” or just the mere word “patio.” However, we also know that book people are not like non-book people in that: a) we ... Read more
It's official: this may be our launchiest (and even raunchiest?) week ever.
Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event details, including author, book, date, time, and address to hello@alllitup.ca to be included ... Read more
I once heard that everyone’s eyes and ears are shaped differently. It is very possible that we don’t hear and see things the same way. What’s blue to me might be green to someone else. How can we decipher specific scenarios or emotions if we all see things in our way? ... Read more
Copyright © 2018 All Lit Up. All Rights Reserved.
All Lit Up is produced by the Literary Press Group and LitDistCo. LPG and LitDistCo acknowledge the financial support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council.
