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We Can't Ever Do This Again
By Amber McMillan
Honourable Mention - Alcuin Society Award for Excellence in Book Design - Poetry
A blind boy comforts himself with a telephone's dial tone and later becomes an international prankster. The discovery of a fox crucified in a toolshed prefigures the breakdown of a close relationship. ... Read more
Overview
Honourable Mention - Alcuin Society Award for Excellence in Book Design - Poetry
A blind boy comforts himself with a telephone's dial tone and later becomes an international prankster. The discovery of a fox crucified in a toolshed prefigures the breakdown of a close relationship. McMillan's poems render both the public and the intimate with uncanny precision. They show us how these two worlds influence and invade one another. The flux and flicker of private memories are captured and projected brightly onto a shared, communal space. This is an adroit poetry that moves beyond confession; rather, it first stands witness, and then records, and then transmits its experiences to us like a gift.
Amber McMillan
Amber McMillan is the author of The Woods: A Year on Protection Island (2016) and the poetry collection We Can't Ever Do This Again (2015). Her work has appeared in Arc Poetry Magazine, PRISM international, Best Canadian Poetry,The Walrusand others across North America. She lives and works on BC's Sunshine Coast.
Reviews
"Few debuts are as considered as Amber McMillan?s We Can?t Ever Do This Again. The new collection from Buckrider Books walks a calculated line, navigating family and history, tenderness and indifference, without a false step to either side. McMillan?s landscape is washed up pilot whales and lamed cows, broken dishware and dial tones, sprawling Canada and specific Zutphen, Second World War. The collection is a precipice book, a welcome jolt of adrenaline as McMillan peers into the human condition and does not fall. " - Arc Poetry Magazine
"McMillan can move masterfully between Larkin-y lines ? and joyfully tragic linguistic lollopings. " - Marrow Reviews
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This Week in Book Events: May 18-24
You may be maxxin' and relaxin' today for Victoria Day, but don't get too casual and risk missing one of the great lit events going on Canada-wide this week.
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 in Book Events: May 4-10
There's a brand new slate of launches and readings this week, as well as the can't-miss Pages Unbound festival in Toronto on Saturday and Sunday.
Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event details, including author, ... Read more
Poetry Primer #10: Catherine Graham & Amber McMillan
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Writer's Block: Nathaniel G. Moore's Savage Scrapbook
- Dimensions 79 pages, 5.78 x 8.50 x .30 in
- Published April 15, 2015
- Publisher Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd.
- Category Poetry
- Keywords Canadian
Other titles by Amber McMillan
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