In the case of Vancouver’s poet laureate Rachel Rose, the acuity she’s exhibited in verse is also evident when applied to a new genre. Opening with a hair-raising anecdote — stemming from an impulse: “I wanted to experience what it felt like for suspects to be attacked by these turbocharged police dogs” — Rose displays a sure instinct for storytelling. A pit bull named Rosie takes the ostensible focus of the self-described “loud-mouthed lesbian” and “mainstream invisible” poet’s wide-ranging meditation. Over twenty quirky chapters the book touches on Rosie’s centrality: “Mainstay of my liturgy for sixteen point five almost seventeen years,” Myles writes. Like a freestyling stand-up comic (or, perhaps, a dog in a park of scents) Myles thinks all over the map.

Source: thestar November 17, 2017 11:26 UTC