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Exculpatory Lilies

Susan Musgrave

$37.99

Paperback

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English
McClelland & Stewart Inc.
18 October 2022
2023 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry Finalist 2023 Griffin Poetry Prize Finalist A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book 2022 Walcott Prize Shortlist

From the award-winning poet known for her bracing honesty and sharp yet compassionate gaze, here is a new collection of poems that explore life, marriage, addiction, death, and heart-wrenching grief.

2023 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry Finalist 2023 Griffin Poetry Prize Finalist A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book 2022 Walcott Prize Shortlist

From the award-winning poet known for her bracing honesty and sharp yet compassionate gaze, here is a new collection of poems that explore life, marriage, addiction, death, and heart-wrenching grief.

If grief is the willingness to be claimed by a story bigger than ourselves, Susan Musgrave writes, ""in that / tender wavering, I let grief in.""

""Writing about grief or tragedy is tricky. Hard to meet it at a heart-level without being effusive; hard to meet it at a brain-level without being cold. Hard not to make it about ourselves. Hard to meet it at a visceral level because it can take us out at the knees,"" wrote author Carrie Mac, responding to the death of Musgrave's partner, Stephen Reid, in 2018. Following this traumatic loss, in September 2021 their daughter, Sophie, died of an accidental overdose after a twenty-year struggle with addiction.

But to say this is a collection solely about grief would be to miss the whole nature of Musgrave's voice and sensibility. Wit is one counterpoint; the natural world is another. The poems share a landscape whose creatures, minutely observed, wild and tame-the winged ones most of all-dance attendance on the helplessness of our brief and mystifying human lives. Throughout Exculpatory Lilies, Musgrave's alertness to even the most desolate places makes her personal sorrows astonishingly potent; and her scrutiny of language, and emotions, makes shot silk out of sackcloth and ashes.
By:  
Imprint:   McClelland & Stewart Inc.
Country of Publication:   Canada
Dimensions:   Height: 218mm,  Width: 140mm, 
Weight:   369g
ISBN:   9780771099007
ISBN 10:   0771099002
Pages:   128
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

SUSAN MUSGRAVE's most recent book of poetry, Exculpatory Lilies, was shortlisted for the 2023 Griffin Poetry Prize. She is the author of nineteen books of poetry, numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, and several books for children. She has been the recipient of multiple awards, including the Matt Cohen Award, the BC Book Awards, and Taste Canada Awards. In 2023, she was recognized with the George Woodcock Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement in British Columbia. She lives in Haida Gwaii where she is the proprietor of Copper Beech House. www.susanmusgrave.com

Reviews for Exculpatory Lilies

Praise for Susan Musgrave and Exculpatory Lilies: Musgrave's poetry is rooted in conversational phrases and natural observation interpolated with startling metaphors drawn from nature and everyday living. [Exculpatory Lilies] alights on many truthful moments. -EVENT magazine Praise for Susan Musgrave and Origami Dove: Enough tragedy to break your goddamn heart. But also enough craft to parse it for her readers. These poems might be bitter pills but they're coated with artisanal chocolate and gold leaf. -Winnipeg Free Press Musgrave at her funniest. She hasn't lost her edge; in fact, she's been sharpening it. -Globe and Mail Musgrave writes short, pristine poems, with the elegance of fresh tracks on snow. Her poem's stark lines are freighted with wisdom deep enough that I've yet to scrape the bottom. -Dalhousie Review Through the collection's quiet, mindful acceptance of sorrow, Musgrave has managed to suck the pain out of it. Sorrow simply becomes another way to experience beauty. -Pacific Rim Review of Books


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