Broken Dawn Blessings - Poems

Adam Sol

Summary

Trillium Book Award–winning poet Adam Sol’s newest collection is made up of poems that are loosely linked to the traditional Jewish morning prayers, the Birkhot haShachar, which try to find moments of blessing in the midst of personal and public pain, shame, and worry
		 
How do we respond to others’ pain, both the pain of those we love and the larger global pain of those we don’t know? In a religious context, a witness can offer blessing when those in the midst of suffering cannot. Taking on the responsibility of blessing, then, is a way to shoulder that burden for the sufferer. This presupposes the idea that blessing is a necessity — which may be a point up for debate.
		 
In the context of his wife’s recovery from surgery, and with civic violence prevalent in his city, the speaker of these poems leans on the structure of the Birkhot haShachar (dawn blessings) to carve out space for empathy, complaint, and occasional flashes of wonder. These poems showcase Sol’s trademark blend of humor and lyric virtuosity, and display his familiarity with Jewish texts and traditions, but add a new intimacy and urgency that break new ground for one of Canada’s most respected poets. It is his most risky and most accomplished collection to date.

Available since: 09/21/2021.

Poetry & Theatre

Other books that might interest you

it felt empty when the heart...

Lucy Kirkwood

A luminous journey exploring the life of Dijana Polancec: professional romantic, eternal optimist and accidental prostitute. Winner of the John Whiting Award, 2010
Produced by acclaimed theatre company Clean Break. it felt empty premiered at the Arcola Theatre, London in October 2009.
'unflinching... theatre that provokes in the best way, without lurid melodrama or sentimentality, but with wit and tenderness... demands that we watch and listen' The Times
'superb... deeply painful and profoundly disturbing' The Stage

Show book

A River of Crows

Shanessa Gluhm

In 1988, Sloan Hadfield’s brother Ridge went fishing with their father and never came home. Their father, a good-natured Vietnam veteran prone to violent outbursts, was arrested and charged with murder. Ridge’s body was never recovered, and Sloan’s mother—a brilliant ornithologist—slowly descended into madness, insisting her son was still alive.

Now, twenty years later, Sloan’s life is unraveling. In the middle of a bitter divorce, she’s forced to return to her rural Texas hometown when her mother is discharged from a mental health facility.

Overwhelmed by memories and unanswered questions, Sloan returns to the last place her brother was seen all those years ago: Crow’s Nest Creek. There, she is shocked to hear a crow muttering the same syllable over and over: Ridge, Ridge, Ridge.

When the body of another boy is found, Sloan begins to question what really happened to her brother all those years ago. What she discovers will shock her small community and turn her family upside down.

A River of Crows is a tale of family secrets, deception, and revenge perfect for fans of Julia Heaberlin and Jennifer Hillier.

Praise for A River of Crows

“In A River of Crows, Shanessa Gluhm spins a complex web of murder and family revelation that propels the reader forward at a breakneck pace. Just when you think you know where the story is headed, she reveals another thread. If you haven’t yet read Shanessa Gluhm, you need to put her on your to-be-read list.”—Allen Eskens, USA Today bestselling author of The Life We Bury

“A twisted family dynamic and complex personal history combine with a touch of romance . . . grabs on with the opening pages and holds a reader tight to the very end.”—Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell, author of All We Buried and the Wait, Wait, Don’t Query (Yet) series

“. . . one of the strongest new voices in mysteries. [Gluhm] has invented what could be a new genre: the family-driven mystery.”—Rob Samborn, author of The Prisoner of Paradise and Painter of the Damned

“. . . peels away layers of family secrets in this dual timeline narrative, right up until the climatic final reveal, a twist that truly surprised me.”—Laura Kemp, award-winning author of the Lantern Creek Series

“. . . a thought-provoking story of revelation, family ties, discovery, and murder. Readers who choose A River of Crows for its mystery will find an unexpected draw and value in the emotional components which keep the plot action-packed and charged with transformation.”—D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

"Shanessa Gluhm, with literary panache, expertly shows what happens when a family strays from respect and honesty, with the consequence of it all, as dark as a crow’s wing, unfurling, touching, and changing everything and everyone in its path."—Lone Star Literary Life

“Like the tumultuous river flowing at the center of this gripping tale, Shanessa Gluhm has crafted a pulsating story that is just waiting to pull you into its chilling depths and slowly reveal all its darkest secrets”—Indies Today

Show book

Pennyroyal (NHB Modern Plays)

Lucy Roslyn

When Daphne is diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency at the age of nineteen, her sister Christine steps in to help in the only way she knows how: by donating her eggs. For a while, the world seems corrected. But as the years go by – and Daphne sets out on the long road of IVF – the sisters' relationship begins to twist.
Pennyroyal is a heartrending new play by Lucy Roslyn about sisterhood and motherhood, enduring love, and regrets many years in the making. Inspired by Edith Wharton's 1922 novella The Old Maid, it was premiered at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 2022, directed by Josh Roche.

Show book

Thick as Thieves (NHB Modern Plays)

Katherine Chandler

Two women from very different worlds: Karen has built a picture-perfect life while Gail struggles to keep hers together. When Gail re-enters Karen's life from out of the blue, she brings with her everything Karen has been running from…
Katherine Chandler's tense, revealing play explores what it means to care for one another and asks who, in a time of increasing disconnect, we expect to look after us.
Thick as Thieves was premiered at Theatr Clwyd, Mold, in October 2018, in a co-production between Clean Break and Theatr Clwyd.
Acclaimed theatre company Clean Break produces ground-breaking plays with women writers and actors at the heart of its work. Founded in 1979 by two women prisoners who needed urgently to tell their stories through theatre, the company today has an independent education programme delivering theatre opportunities to women offenders and women at risk, in custodial and community settings.

Show book

Mosquitoes (NHB Modern Plays)

Lucy Kirkwood

Lucy Kirkwood's new play is about families and particle physics. It premieres at the National Theatre, London, in July 2017.
Alice is a scientist. She lives in Geneva. As the Large Hadron particle collider starts up in 2008, she is on the brink of the most exciting work of her life, searching for the Higgs Boson.
Jenny is her sister. She lives in Luton. She spends a lot of time Googling.
When tragedy throws them together, the collision threatens them all with chaos.

Show book

Nsfw

Lucy Kirkwood

Lucy Kirkwood's sharp comedy looks at power games and privacy in the media and beyond.
Carrie's getting them out for the lads, Charlotte's just grateful to have a job, Sam's being asked to sell more than his body, and Aidan's trying to keep Doghouse magazine from going under. Set in the cut-throat media world, Lucy Kirkwood's timely new comedy exposes power games and privacy in the age of Photoshop.
[NSFW = Not Safe For Work, online material which the viewer may not want to be seen accessing in a public or formal setting such as at work.]

Show book