Full Description
The poems in Lisa Richter's third book, Sublunary, engage with all things under the moon: a human collection rooted in grief and renewal. Drawing together the sudden death of a father, the climate emergency, urban pastoralism, Jewish folk traditions, love, desire, and societal breakdown, the collection navigates the surreal, bewildering geographies of loss with Richter's characteristic mix of dreamlike fabulism, humour, and pathos. From mythological locales to the streets of pandemic-era Toronto, these heartfelt poems interweave a multiplicity of lyric voices, collaged text, associative leaps, and moments of absurdity and wonder to create a nuanced portrait of what "a reckless intimacy with the world" might look like—for better or worse. Ultimately, this capacious book of elegy, play, and upheaval advocates for an ethics of care, solidarity, and compassion for our perfectly imperfect selves and each other: a mode of survival that is full-throated and at times, even joyous.
Contents
True Facts About Grief
I.
False Awakening
Frog Rain
The Crashing of the Floodgates
Onism for Beginners
Flotsam
Blood Concordance
Escape Room
Elegy for Adam Zagajewski on the Spring Equinox
Shelter in Place
If You're Anything Like Me
The Allegory of the Pizzas
A Portrait Made of Seaweed
The Oracle of Delphi
Dream Collage
Be Someone Who Would Have Been Burned at the Stake 500 Years Ago
II.
Elegy for My Father During the Days of Awe
Epithalamium
Culpable
Marc Chagall
Mountain Concordance
Loss Isn't So Important
Jewish Town
Ulcerative Colitis Deep Remission
Lower Soul
Self-Portrait as Demolished Supermarket
Heat Unthinkable and Cold Unimaginable
Missed Flight
Ghazal with Malbec, No Cigarettes
Hauntology
Moon Phasery
Communique from the Fortunate Islands
The Pomegranate Year
Three Years, Two Months and Twelve Days After My Father Dies Overseas
Self-Portrait as Prisoner with Balalaika
Sublunary
Unboxing Day
Winter Solstice
If Not From Dust
Disassembly Line
III.
Whatever It Takes
Je Ne Regrette Rien
Communique from Atlantis Under Lockdown
The Invention of Memory
Bloorcourt Anti-Elegy
Modern Miracles
The Fish Trees
Cloud Concordance
Yes And
Subterranean
Against "The Road Not Taken"
If You Dwell on a Grave While Out of Breath
Sea Grief
Marriage Tales
Minor Worries
Fast Backward
Today the Universe Can Be Viewed by Members Only
Marvelosity
New Year's Lament
Living Will
Between Falling to Earth and Floating in Space
Notes
Acknowledgments
