A NATIONAL POETIC TREASURE

Dionne Brand’s ‘Nomenclature’ includes new and older works

Christina Sharpe’s introduction points out Brand’s connection with people and the inseparable nature of the ‘aesthetic and the political’

Nomenclature Dionne Brand McClelland & Stewart 672 pages $45

Nomenclature Dionne Brand (McClelland & Stewart) This is a monumental publication from one of this country’s most important poets. Brand is a treasure; her work has far-reaching influence. Christina Sharpe’s introduction gives us ways in to reading and understanding Brand’s work and that influence: by pointing out her connection with people and the inseparable nature of the “aesthetic and the political,” poetry being “a leap into language, a leap into possibility.”

The book begins with a new poem, the eponymous “Nomenclature” — at around 115 pages it could have been published separately as a volume itself. It is collected here with other of her volumes — “Primitive Offensive,” “Chronicles of the Hostile Sun,” and “Ossuaries” along with others, leaving out just two: “’Fore Day Morning” and “The Blue Clark: Ars Poetica in 59 Versos.”

Sharpe’s introduction also gives important context to Brand’s work over the years, drawing connections between the various collections, tracing Brand’s “work, political engagements, commitment to experiments with form and shape, her place in Diasporas, her influences, and the beauty and radical push of her poetics.”

Toronto, I Love You Didier Leclair Mawenzi House 144 pages $22.95

Toronto, I Love You Didier Leclair (Mawenzi House) Leclair’s novel was originally published in French in 2000, and, perhaps curiously, was not published in English until this month (translated by Elaine Kennedy), despite winning the Prix Trillium for French book at the time. When asked why that was, Didier replied (via his publisher in an email) that, “the Toronto publishers were not ready to translate a French-speaking Torontonian writing about Toronto. It was like asking a French chef to taste a crème brûlée prepared by an African cook. But mentalities have changed.” Plus, he says, his second novel “This Country Of Mine” awakened interest in his earlier work.

In “Toronto, I Love You,” Leclair writes about his introduction to the city as a new immigrant, describing it with fresh eyes and evocative descriptions. His first views of it, for example, “I had to bite my lip many times to stifle my gasps of wonder. The asphalt, the concrete, the glass — these elements of modernism so imposing in North American cities.” Or on heading to the suburbs: “The open space … revealed a sky as bare as the head of a crownless king.” He helps us see the city with fresh eyes, too.

Our Voice of Fire Brandi Morin Anansi 224 pages $22.99

Our Voice Of Fire Brandi Morin (Anansi) Morin is a journalist and a survivor of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis. In straightforward storytelling and clear language, she conveys the innocence of early childhood, the turbulence and confusion of a home life filled with violence and rage and frustration, living in group homes, dealing with social workers, how the hospital became her favourite place to be because, even if it meant illness, she was getting attention, and how she was taught to understand, again and again, that the bad things that happened to her were her own fault. It is also about finding her own voice — and ensuring the voices of others looking for justice for MMIWG are heard.

Estates Large and Small Ray Robertson Biblioasis 224 pages $24.95

Estates Large and Small Ray Robertson (Biblioasis) Robertson’s wry humour has become a hallmark of his style, even — especially? — when he’s writing about some of the more difficult things in life: death, disease, purpose. Equally a hallmark is a preoccupation with philosophy, which he explores in ways that are accessible and edgy. (Full disclosure: Robertson and I share a publisher.) Those hallmarks were as evident in his slim book “How To Die,” as it is in this one: a used bookstore owner decides to close up his bricks-andmortar shop and take it online. Meantime, he decides to study 2,500 years of Western philosophy along with his new girlfriend, who has terminal cancer. The big questions are, of course, what does it mean to be living and what do we leave behind?