3 'must-read' Canadian poetry collections to check out right now
April is National Poetry Month in Canada. Ryan B. Patrick is a senior producer at CBC Books and he's been reading a lot of poetry this month.
"Being a writer and a producer, reading poetry helps my reading. It helps my writing. So I love to consume it. I love to see new forms of writing, new forms of language, playing with language. I just love that stuff," said Patrick.
"Poetry is about vibes. It's about connecting on a visceral level. It's about transmuting your emotion, using language, putting that to the page."
If you're interested in poetry, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1.
Ryan joined The Next Chapter to share his all Canadian list of recommendations.
Unravel by Tolu Oloruntoba
In the poetry collection Unravel, Nigerian Canadian poet Tolu Oloruntoba reflects on themes of identity, belonging and agency by way of poems that fundamentally delve into what it means to be human in today's world.
Tolu Oloruntoba is a writer from Nigeria who now lives in Alberta. His first full-length poetry collection, The Junta of Happenstance, won the 2021 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry.
He is the founder of the literary magazine Klorofyl and author of the chapbook Manubrium, which was shortlisted for the 2020 bpNichol Chapbook Award.
Ryan B. Patrick says: "When I hear the word unravel, I feel like there's some negative connotations there. It's not something we're all trying to do. Because it has this feeling of falling apart, but it could also be something positive, maybe taking something apart to build it back again.
"It's about deconstructing — it's about dismantling the self, understanding the self, using the Walt Whitman 'We are multitudes.' It's exploring that. It's exploring his Nigerian heritage, exploring his being a Canadian immigrant, exploring him being a new father as well.
It's about deconstructing — it's about dismantling the self, understanding the self.- Ryan B. Patrick
"You have to break things down to the atoms, build them up and the foundation in terms of having a better understanding of who you are and how each lived experience or lived memory informs who you are.
"And I think fundamentally that's what this book unravels all about. And it's so powerful."
Buzzkill Clamshell by Amber Dawn
Packed with sharp, candid and sensual verses, Buzzkill Clamshell is a collection of poems that explore themes of sick and disabled queerness, aging and desire.
Amber Dawn is a Vancouver-based author, editor and creative facilitator. Her previous works include the novels Sub Rosa, which won the Lambda Literary Award, and Sodom Road Exit, as well as poetry collections Where the Words End and My Body Begins and My Art Is Killing Me and Other Poems.
Ryan B. Patrick says: "This one takes us for a ride. It's deeply personal. It delves into her queer identity. It delves into her experience with disability. That cross section or that intersection, if you will, and it dives into the nature of pain, how pain limits us, how chronic pain and disability shapes our day-to-day, how it informs and shapes our identity, but it doesn't necessarily define us.
It dives into the nature of pain, how pain limits us, how chronic pain and disability shapes our day-to-day, how it informs and shapes our identity, but it doesn't necessarily define us.- Ryan B. Patrick
"She also explores her queerness, she explores disability, but it's also very erotic, it's very sexual, it's interesting, it's very sensual."
allostatic load by Junie Désil
The poems in allostatic load grapple with racial tensions, the pandemic and systemic injustice through both the intimate closeness of personal stories and the lens of news clippings. allostatic load invites readers to do the hard work of vulnerability to find healing in a world that doesn't always allow it.
Junie Désil is a writer of Haitian descent. Her work has appeared in publications such as Room, PRISM International, The Capilano Review and CV2. Her debut book is eat salt | gaze at the ocean. She lives on Lasqueti Island in B.C. and works in Vancouver.
Ryan B. Patrick says: "Allostatic load refers to that physiological wear or tear on the human body caused by chronic or repeated exposure to stress. It's the body's response to prolonged stress, wearing you down.
That's what allostatic load references — that chronic wear and tear and then she adds into the external in terms of global racial tensions, identity, being Black in the world and how pain is fundamental to the Black experience, unfortunately.- Ryan B. Patrick
"So that's what allostatic load references — that chronic wear and tear and then she adds into the external in terms of global racial tensions, identity, being Black in the world and how pain is fundamental to the Black experience, unfortunately.
"Désil is Haitian Canadian, born to Haitian immigrant parents in Montreal. And she's explored this topic at length, looking at racialized communities, looking at pain, looking at the intimate, subjective and the objective agency in the face of pain."
Ryan B. Patrick's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
