“While the detail in these poems can be distressing, the writer has shown in-depth feeling and in-depth writing that cannot be denied, but laid out, shared, even while the narrator is sometimes wildly enraged.” —Cathy Ford reviews allostatic load, by Junie Désil (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2025) $18.95 / 9781772016062
The Defiant Mind: Living Inside a Stroke by Ron Smith Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2016 $22.95 / 9781553804802 Reviewed by Mark Forsythe First published November 15, 2016 * Ron Smith, the founder of Oolichan Books, thinks the word “stroke” is far too light to describe a brain that has been “attacked” or “carpet bombed.” In his…
Read more #43 Defiance, hope, and healing
Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Our Children from an Oversanitized World by B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta (Greystone) $19.95 Reviewed by Mark Forsythe First published October 17, 2016 Our kids need dirt and face licks from the family dog. We live in an obsessively clean world with antibiotic soaps, cleansers, antibiotic drugs and body…
Read more #27 Let them eat dirt