#Monica mcclure word writer skin

The complexity of voice in Undoing Hours does not stem from an exploration of perspective alone. Boan has a knack for figurative language, particularly when she turns her attention to the subject of time. The accumulation of metaphors in this passage allows the poet to underscore emotional tension. watch it blister and gush onto the sidewalk. when he walks out of the elevator, be prepared for the way time will speed up like eyes following earth through a car window. In “how to find your father,” the imperative mood is used across the form of the list poem to give shape to a story of renewed connections:ĩ. There’s also the third-person narrative, where the speaker finds a counterpart to describe herself, “a girl” (“in six, the seasons”), and even the rare first-person-plural, the collective choral “we” (“we love,”).īoan also experiments with the possibilities of voice within these categories, as in the persona poem “alter, ego (after Monica McClure),” where she turns to a portrait of “serena,” who is described as both “the right kind of mean” and “hot glue pressing herself to the party’s seam,” alongside other qualifiers (50). Words you don’t want to write / a shape of history denied so manyĮlsewhere, the speaker uses the second-person to address another subject (“ongoing conversations with my acne”).

#Monica mcclure word writer skin

Through water / through grass / along the river where reeds brushīlood skin pus / where pain lets itself out little by little / there are Many poems use the first-person-singular lyric “I” (“campaign for my body’s mess,” for example), while others create intimacy with the second-person-singular “you.” At times, this “you” appears to represent the speaker talking to herself, as in “run the hurt,” one of my favourite poems in the collection: Undoing Hours uses almost every poetic perspective I can think of, allowing the reader to see the subject of the poems from different angles.

Perspective and voice are not the same thing, but perspective operates as a lens through which a poet’s voice is filtered. Throughout the collection, the perspective continually shifts though I had the sense that there was one central figure, her experiences are transmitted not only through a conventional lyric speaker, but from other perspectives as well. Over the course of the book, the poet’s reflections are accompanied by the process of learning and reclaiming her cultural heritage and language, namely nêhiyawêwin (Cree). The much-anticipated debut of award-winning poet Selina Boan, Undoing Hours weaves together themes of love, friendship, family, heartbreak, inheritance, the body, and time in (often formally inventive) narrative lyrics.