Alberta Books For Poetry Lovers

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Books are a great gift
And poetry is too

Discover our Alberta poetry recommendations below!

WAKEWord by Wakefield Brewster

In this journey of self-expression and self exploration, Wakefield Brewster over-comes educational systems, addiction, and mental despair to deliver messages of hope, wellness, and pride in his blackness. In his own words, “In an odyssey of self awareness and societal association, I have crafted a deeper communion with the world around me.” In an anthem of hope and pride, one of Alberta’s most renowned spoken word performers inspires with messages of connection and overcoming.

WAKEWord

Wakefield Brewster

Published: Apr 15, 2024 by Frontenac House Ltd.
ISBN: 9781989466728

The Loom by Andy Weaver

Andy Weaver led a life of quiet contemplation before becoming a father at the age of 42. Within three years he had two sons. The Loom is a book about love. It is a book about frustration, confusion, crying, and being sticky. It is a book about doubt, unreadiness, fear, sleeplessness, and pressure. It is a book about parenthood. But mostly, it’s a book about love. Weaver presents a series of lyric poems which stand on their own yet on reflection come together into a complete whole, like the days that make up a childhood. He shares the beauty and surreality of parenthood, an experience at once universal and deeply personal, with self-awareness and a deep vein of humour.

The Loom

Andy Weaver

Published: Nov 15, 2024 by University of Calgary Press
ISBN: 9781773855837

What Kind of Daughter? by Rayanne Haines

In this hybrid collection of poetry and essay, Rayanne Haines reflects on her life growing up in rural Alberta, and considers the loss of her mother to cancer while asking questions such as how do we steer through holding patterns of almost grief, how do we navigate the terrain of discovery, how do we journey through the burden of care? In What Kind of Daughter? Haines reflects on the choices women are asked to make and challenges readers to reflect on the way we value, devalue, or simply exist within the spaces of gender and grief.

What Kind of Daughter?

Rayanne Haines

Published: Oct 11, 2024 by Frontenac House
ISBN: 9781989466841

Attic Rain by Samantha Jones

In Attic Rain, her debut poetry collection, Calgary-based poet and writer Samantha Jones puts obsessive-compulsive disorder centre stage. Lines and words repeat, write over themselves, and read top to bottom and back again, emphasizing themes of self-doubt, anxiety, and negotiation for control. Attic Rain is a love story nested inside an overarching narrative of self-compassion and awareness. It tours childhood and adulthood, lingering on settings and scenarios typically considered ordinary and unremarkable. The poems in this collection are part of an ongoing act of resilience and an honest account of moving through a world obsessed with normality.

Attic Rain

Samantha Jones

Published: Sep 01, 2024 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390986

Dreams of the Epoch & the Rock by Jaspreet Singh

In Dreams of the Epoch & the Rock, Jaspreet Singh deepens his exploration of climate, language, migration, decolonization, and the Anthropocene with an energy both acrobatic and intimate. Interweaving the personal, local, global, and geologic with hidden histories, these poems invite possibilities and defy neat closures, leaving readers with an indelible view of deep time. An ancestor’s words in a diary, a child’s chalk drawing, solar panels that smile like an ancient god, the Great Oxygenation Event: the gaze of these poems is vast, eclectic, and awestruck, while also remaining clear-eyed about the futures that await our planet.

Dreams of the Epoch & the Rock

Jaspreet Singh

Published: Nov 15, 2024 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774391082

Jesus is a Voyeur by Bret Crowle

Jesus is a Voyeur is a collection of feminist gothic poetry which deconstructs and explores the intertwined roles of femininity, sexuality, and Catholicism while growing up and maturing in rural Alberta. The poetry acts as reverential protest towards societal foundations reinforced by Catholicism and home, exploring the inevitable dynamics of life, place, family, and self. Through an external voyeuristic voice, as well as through internal expressions that mirror confessionals, Jesus is a Voyeur places readers in both the role of voyeur and exhibitionist.

Jesus is a Voyeur

Bret Crowle

Published: Oct 11, 2024 by Frontenac House
ISBN: 9781989466780

Deviant by Patrick Grace

Deviant traces a trajectory of queer self-discovery from childhood to adulthood, examining love, fear, grief, and the violence that men are capable of in intimate same-sex relationships. Richly engaged with the tangible and experiential, Patrick Grace’s confessional poetry captures profound, sharp emotions, tracking a journey impacted equally by beauty and by brutality. Coming-of-age identity struggles are recalled with wry wit. Later poems in the collection recall vivid moments of psychological trauma and stalking and explore the bias of the justice system toward gay men. Collecting memories, dreams, and fears about sexual identity, Deviant makes important contributions to queer coming-of-age and intimate partner violence narratives.

Deviant

Alberta Books For Poetry Lovers