Fierce Departures: The Poetry of Dionne Brand

Table of Contents

v Table of Contents Foreword, Neil Besner / vii Biographical Note / viii Introduction, Leslie C. Sanders / ix No Language Is Neutral No language is neutral / 1 There it was anyway, some damn memory half-eaten / 2 Pilate was that river I never crossed as a child / 3 I walk Bathurst Street until it come like home / 4 But wait, this must come out then / 5 In another place, not here, a woman might touch / 6 Land to Light On V i / 7 V ii / 8 V iii / 9 V iv / 10 V v / 11 V vi / 12 thirsty III / 13 XII / 14 XIII / 15 XV / 16 XVII / 17 XVIII / 18 XXX / 21 Inventory III One year she sat at the television weeping / 22 nothing personal is recorded here / 23 what confidences would she tell you then / 24 she’s heard clearly now, twenty-three / 25 beating on the tympanic bone, by suicide bomb / 26 At least someone should stay awake, she thinks / 27 and bones beatific, sharpened with heat, at least / 28 “It is worst during the night / 29 there’s another life, she listens, each hour, each night / 30 If they’re numb over there, and all around her / 31 she’ll gather the passions of women / 32 till then / where are the packages of black pepper / 33 she is a woman who is losing the idea / 34 Afterword, Dionne Brand / 35 Acknowledgements / 39 vi / Contents ...