Kirjahaku

Headlines is a poetry collection based on current media headlines surrounding black people and our existing notions of "blackness". The headlines present an accurate contemporary view into the current zeitgeist of "blackness". Media headlines are revealing historical and sociological artifacts that provide insights into any society. I utilize media headlines to analyze our current notions regarding "blackness" and all it entails. Writing poems derived from headlines is certainly an interesting undertaking because although I am writing poems based on our current experiences, there are common historical threads that consistently become entrenched in the various headlines. Contemporary preconceptions of blackness seem to have difficulty dislodging themselves from past notions and narratives.

Longlisted for the 2023 OCM Bocas Prize • Longlisted for the 2023 Raymond Souster Poetry Prize • A CBC Best Poetry Book of 2022 • Nominated for the 2023 ReLit Award for PoetrySaturated with locutions lifted from the late 19th century, The Day-Breakers deeply conceives of what African Canadian soldiers experienced before, during, and in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War."It is not wise to waste the life / Against a stubborn will. / Yet would we die as some have done. / Beating a way for the rising sun wrote Arna Bontemps. In The Day-Breakers, poet Michael Fraser imagines the selflessness of Black soldiers who fought for the Union during the American Civil War, of whom hundreds were African-Canadian, fighting for the freedom of their brethren and the dawning of a new day. Brilliantly capturing the rhythms of their voices and the era in which they lived and fought, Fraser’s The Day-Breakers is an homage to their sacrifice and an unforgettable act of reclamation: the restoration of a language, and a powerful new perspective on Black history and experience.