The All + Flesh by Brandi Bird

Brandi Bird's long-anticipated debut poetry collection,The All + Flesh, explores the concepts of health, language, place, and memory that connect its author to their chosen kin, blood relatives, and ancestral lands. By examining kinship in broader contexts, these frank, transcendent poems expose binaries that exist inside those relationships, then inspect and tease them apart in the hope of moving toward decolonial future(s). Bird's work is highly concerned with how outer and inner landscapes move and change within the confines of the English language, particularly the "I" of the self, a tradition of movement that has been lost for many who don't speak their Indigenous languages or live on their homelands. By exploring the landscapes the poet does inhabit, both internally and externally, Bird's poems seek to delve into and reflect their cultural lineagesspecifically Saulteaux, Cree, and Mtisand how these transformative identities shape the person they are today.

I am made of centuries & carbohydrates
the development of my molars
the hunger the teeth grew
has been with me since childhood
I can't escape the mouths of others (From House of Anansi Press)

Brandi Bird is an Indigiqueer writer from Treaty 1 territory. Currently studying at the University of British Columbia, their poems have been featured in various publications such as Catapult and Room Magazine. The All + Flesh is their first book.