Poetry Link: A Poem a Day from Angel House Press

by Jael Richardson

As a writer, reader and reality TV watcher, Canada Reads masterfully combines some of my favourite practices and past-times in a nation-wide, televised battle of the books. And while I enjoyed the 2016 debates – watching national celebrities compassionately defend great, Canadian stories – there was one comment by defender Farah Mohamed regarding Tracey Lindberg’s Birdie that irked me, and I’ve been wrestling with her words since March.

“I was really hoping that it would be a book that would not be like the stories we have heard,” she said. “I am so desperate to read a story about an Aboriginal woman that doesn’t necessarily go through all of this.”