Celebrate National Poetry Month with Alberta Poetry Collections

Alberta poetry collections to enjoy during our sunny National Poetry Month. Hopefully we don’t jinx it…

Love Life Loss and a little bit of hope by Chief R. Stacey Laforme

Chief Stacey Laforme breathes life into every poem and story he shares, drawing from his own experiences. Rich with the essence of his soul, the poems in this book capture the moments and emotions that have shaped him. His desire is for readers to not just read, but to truly feel the humour and pain intertwined in these poems. Much like his previous poetry collection, Living in the Tall Grass, Laforme invites non-Indigenous people to see through the eyes of Indigenous people with topics of peace and humanity, as well as grief, trauma, and hope.

Love Life Loss and a little bit of hope: Poems from the Soul

Chief R. Stacey Laforme , Kevin Hearn , Samantha Gibbon

Published: Mar 01, 2024 by Durvile Publications Ltd.
ISBN: 9781990735431

My Works, Ye Mighty by Christian Bök

My Works, Ye Mighty expands upon the conceptual literature of Christian Bök, particularly his ongoing project, entitled The Xenotext. Based upon work conducted during his tenure as the Writer-in-Residence at Athabasca University, this essay and poem address the concept of “scale” in poetry, meditating on this topic with an abundance of imagery.

My Works, Ye Mighty

Christian Bök

Published: Mar 25, 2025 by Athabasca University Press
ISBN: 9781771994347

Invisible Lives by Cristalle Smith

Invisible Lives chronicles cycles of dysfunction and domestic violence. Using experimental hybrid poetry, Smith breaks generational silence in lyric resonance, reflecting on a childhood rife with upheaval and poverty, the invisibility of single motherhood, and the silence of domestic violence. These poems sing memory across divides of time and space, breaking the patterns of absence and denial and challenging what is kept unseen.

Invisible Lives

Cristalle Smith

Published: Jul 15, 2024 by University of Calgary Press
ISBN: 9781773855141

Moving to Delilah by Catherine Owen

In search of stability and rootedness, in 2018 Catherine Owen moved from coastal Vancouver to prairie Edmonton. There, she purchased a house built more than one hundred years earlier: a home named Delilah. Beginning from a space of grief that led to Owen’s relocation, the poems in this collection inhabit the home, its present and its past. These poems share the stories of decades of renovations, the full lives of Delilah’s previous inhabitants, and Owen’s triumphs and failures in the ever-evolving garden. The poems ultimately whirl out in the concentric distances of the local neighbourhood and beyond — though one house can make a home, home encompasses so much more than one house.

Moving to Delilah

Catherine Owen

Published: Apr 01, 2024 by Freehand Books
ISBN: 9781990601583

This Sweet Rupture by Omar Ramadan

This Sweet Rupture unflinchingly explores interwoven themes of family secrets, diaspora, food culture, and the impact of war on personal stories. Rooted in Omar Ramadan’s experiences as a son of Lebanese immigrants, and set in Canada, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates, the collection brings together intergenerational exchanges and present-day realities, from sweetened tea preparations to conversations about conflict zones to investigations of Canadian blizzards. Resonant and intricate, This Sweet Rupture thoughtfully navigates cultural identity, war, memory, and family.

This Sweet Rupture

Omar Ramadan

Published: Mar 04, 2025 by University of Alberta Press
ISBN: 9781772127973

Dreams of the Epoch & the Rock by Jaspreet Singh

In Dreams of the Epoch & the Rock, 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

Celebrate National Poetry Month with Alberta Poetry Collections

Love Life Loss and a little bit of hope by Chief R. Stacey Laforme

Chief R. Stacey Laforme , Kevin Hearn , Samantha Gibbon

Published: Mar 01, 2024 by Durvile Publications Ltd.
ISBN: 9781990735431