Paperback
978-1-77212-547-4Size: 5¼" x 9"
Pages: 96
Pages: 76
epub
978-1-77212-639-6Pages: 76
Deriving
Robert Kroetsch Series
By Jennifer Bowering Delisle
Deriving is a feminist exploration of the creation of life, of family, and of words themselves. Delisle asks: How does past infertility colour the experience of new motherhood? How do historical voices echo in the present? How does language impact our ways of being in the world? These poems embrace the rich material of mothering with unapologetic honesty, confronting the experiences that some would keep hidden. Fear, anger, envy mix with joy and ultimately hope, as Delisle considers the challenges of conceiving and raising children in both familial and global contexts. Deriving is a poignant, lyrical meditation on longing, place, and embodiment.
I watched it freeze up,
rafts of white snagging beneath the bridge,
frazil ice,
pans linked along the shoreline.
Inside me my son was building
white fat on bone.
- from “North Saskatchewan”
Book details
Publication date: March 2021Series: Robert Kroetsch Series
Keywords: Infertility; Childbearing; Motherhood; Parenting; Grief; Home; Etymology; Miscarriage; Loss; Hope; Feminist; Confessional poetry; Canadian poetry; Women writers; Lyrical; lyric poetry; Family; Nature; Environment; Book Club
Subject(s): POETRY / Canadian / General, Creative Writing, Poetry, POETRY / Women Authors, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Family, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Death, Grief, Loss, Infertility; Childbearing; Motherhood; Parenting; Grief; Home; Etymology; Miscarriage; Loss; Hope; Feminist; Confessional poetry; Canadian poetry; Women writers; Lyrical; lyric poetry; Family; Nature; Environment; Book Club, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Nature, Poetry, Women's Studies, Canadian Literature / Poetry, Poetry by individual poets, Modern & contemporary poetry (c 1900 onwards)
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Book details
Publication date: March 2021Series: Robert Kroetsch Series
Keywords: Infertility; Childbearing; Motherhood; Parenting; Grief; Home; Etymology; Miscarriage; Loss; Hope; Feminist; Confessional poetry; Canadian poetry; Women writers; Lyrical; lyric poetry; Family; Nature; Environment; Book Club
Subject(s): POETRY / Canadian / General, Creative Writing, Poetry, POETRY / Women Authors, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Family, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Death, Grief, Loss, Infertility; Childbearing; Motherhood; Parenting; Grief; Home; Etymology; Miscarriage; Loss; Hope; Feminist; Confessional poetry; Canadian poetry; Women writers; Lyrical; lyric poetry; Family; Nature; Environment; Book Club, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Nature, Poetry, Women's Studies, Canadian Literature / Poetry, Poetry by individual poets, Modern & contemporary poetry (c 1900 onwards)
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Jennifer Bowering Delisle. Jennifer Bowering Delisle is the author of the lyric family memoir, The Bosun Chair, and a book of literary studies, The Newfoundland Diaspora. Her poetry and prose have been published in magazines and anthologies across North America. She is a settler living in Treaty 6 territory (Edmonton).
# 8 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, May 9, 2021
# 9 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, May 23, 2021
# 9 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, July 25, 2021
# 8 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, October 10, 2021
# 5 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, December 5, 2021
# 9 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, December 12, 2021
# 9 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, January 2, 2022
# 5 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, February 27, 2022
Bestseller List Week Ending 2022-09-18
#9
"Deriving is a masterfully crafted collection that is both prescient and relevant. Delisle traverses time, language, geography, and topography and deftly synthesizes the ethereal and the concrete with poems that 'sound the shape of a thousand leaves.' Delisle’s lens zooms in and out from the internal workings of motherhood, family, and love, even as it brings into focus etymology, biology, climate change, and politics. Above all, this collection is a magical exploration of language’s perfection and elusiveness. Here is a voice that enlightens, surprises, and stirs. Deriving is rich—its breadth and depth compel the reader to experience poetry that, at its core, is about 'finding words/for everything I’ll never understand.'”
Book Cover Design | Alberta Book Awards, Book Publishers Association of Alberta, Canada
Short-listed
2022
xi Etymology
1 WATER IN A BLUE GLASS
2 Caribou
4 Seeds
6 The Way We Stand
7 Instinct
9 Reasons
10 February in Vancouver
11 Embryopathology Report
12 Gifts
18 Gravity
19 Know the Way
20 Vancouver
21 Anemochory
22 Highway 16, Near Blue River
24 To Violet
25 Spring
28 SHOEBOX PHOTOS
37 DRINK THE RIVER
38 Muskeg
39 It Never Rains
40 Two Prints
42 Ultrasound
44 Food
45 Rules
46 North Saskatchewan
47 Incongruous
48 Nurse
49 Falling Boundary
51 “THE PERFECTION OF WOMANHOOD”
52 Natural Childbirth
53 Son-of-a-Gun
54 Equivalent
55 Bikini
56 Concession / Stand
59 HOW THE RIVER CARVES OUR NAMES
60 Mother
67 One Little, Two Little, Three Little
68 Lioness
69 How Much I Want the Thing I Never Remember
70 Patience
71 September Snow
72 Go Green
73 Precarious
75 Notes
77 Acknowledgments
Jennifer Bowering Delisle. Jennifer Bowering Delisle is the author of the lyric family memoir, The Bosun Chair, and a book of literary studies, The Newfoundland Diaspora. Her poetry and prose have been published in magazines and anthologies across North America. She is a settler living in Treaty 6 territory (Edmonton).
# 8 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, May 9, 2021
# 9 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, May 23, 2021
# 9 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, July 25, 2021
# 8 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, October 10, 2021
# 5 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, December 5, 2021
# 9 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, December 12, 2021
# 9 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, January 2, 2022
# 5 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, February 27, 2022
Bestseller List Week Ending 2022-09-18
#9
"Deriving is a masterfully crafted collection that is both prescient and relevant. Delisle traverses time, language, geography, and topography and deftly synthesizes the ethereal and the concrete with poems that 'sound the shape of a thousand leaves.' Delisle’s lens zooms in and out from the internal workings of motherhood, family, and love, even as it brings into focus etymology, biology, climate change, and politics. Above all, this collection is a magical exploration of language’s perfection and elusiveness. Here is a voice that enlightens, surprises, and stirs. Deriving is rich—its breadth and depth compel the reader to experience poetry that, at its core, is about 'finding words/for everything I’ll never understand.'”
Book Cover Design | Alberta Book Awards, Book Publishers Association of Alberta, Canada
Short-listed
2022
xi Etymology
1 WATER IN A BLUE GLASS
2 Caribou
4 Seeds
6 The Way We Stand
7 Instinct
9 Reasons
10 February in Vancouver
11 Embryopathology Report
12 Gifts
18 Gravity
19 Know the Way
20 Vancouver
21 Anemochory
22 Highway 16, Near Blue River
24 To Violet
25 Spring
28 SHOEBOX PHOTOS
37 DRINK THE RIVER
38 Muskeg
39 It Never Rains
40 Two Prints
42 Ultrasound
44 Food
45 Rules
46 North Saskatchewan
47 Incongruous
48 Nurse
49 Falling Boundary
51 “THE PERFECTION OF WOMANHOOD”
52 Natural Childbirth
53 Son-of-a-Gun
54 Equivalent
55 Bikini
56 Concession / Stand
59 HOW THE RIVER CARVES OUR NAMES
60 Mother
67 One Little, Two Little, Three Little
68 Lioness
69 How Much I Want the Thing I Never Remember
70 Patience
71 September Snow
72 Go Green
73 Precarious
75 Notes
77 Acknowledgments
