In her debut collection of poetry, Lisa Baird explores themes of trauma and recovery, everyday violence and queerness from a personal point of view as well as a wider political scope. These poems bear witness to the resilience of bodies and sexualities and are grounded in an earthy humour. Baird’s poetic style shifts from lyric to deeply personal to fantastical: an old woman plants broken light bulbs and harvests dark flowers; two sisters grow feathers in a nest in the backyard maple; a mother turns into a deer and escapes the unspeakable through a kitchen window. These are poems of disruption, discovery, and witness—they balance brutal honesty with a welcoming intensity. They want you to come close.
Lisa Baird is a poet, community acupuncturist and a queer white settler living on the territory of the Attawandaron, Chonnonton and Mississauga People of the New Credit First Nation (Guelph, ON). Her poetry has appeared in various literary journals including PRISM International, Arc Poetry Magazine, Rattle and Plenitude. She is a contributor to the Lambda Literary Award–winning anthology The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Healthcare (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2016) and to GUSH: Menstrual Manifestos for Our Times (Frontenac House, 2018). www.lisabaird.ca