Teeth: Poems

by Dallas Hunt

This is a book about grief, death and longing. It’s about the gristle that lodges itself deep into one’s gums, between incisors and canines. Teeth details not only the symptoms of colonization, but also the foundational and constitutive asymmetries that allow for it to proliferate and reproduce itself. Dallas Hunt grapples with the material realities and imaginaries Indigenous communities face, as well as the pockets of livability that they inhabit just to survive. Still this collection seeks joy in the everyday, in the flourishing of Indigenous Peoples in the elsewhere, in worlds to come. Nestling into the place between love and ruin, Teeth traces the collisions of love undone and being undone by love , where “the hope is to find an ocean nested in shoulders―to reside there when the tidal waves come. and then love names the ruin.”

Genres: Poetry, Canada

108 pages, Paperback

Published April 13, 2024

About the author

Dallas Hunt is a teacher, writer, and member of Wapisewsipi (Swan River First Nation) in Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta, Canada. As a proponent of language revitalization, he wanted his debut book for children, Awâsis and the World-Famous Bannock, to include words in Cree. Dallas lives in Winnipeg and enjoys reading great books to his nieces and nephews.

Reviews

[vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible collection of poems that bites you back. Really refreshing take on the writing style and a glossary of indigenous words I’ve never heard before.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really tried to savour this one and make it last but I couldn’t help it, just tore right through.

Dallas Hunt’s second poetry collection, Teeth, is so sharp it cuts through all the noise, to the heart of you. In poems that put words to grief in a way that felt brand new, that made me cry; in the longing you witness at the door to empty rooms and dark basements; in recovery and recognition; quiet but striking with lines that stunned… just wow. Really blown away by this collection. I can see myself rereading this one often.

Thank you to @harbour_publishing and @nightwood_editions for this review copy—I’ll be ordering his first collection Creeland asap.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these poems that touch on grief, BC Ferries, anticolonialism, and love. My fave poems are Crux and There’s a Poem for Everyone.
Thank you to the publisher for my gifted review copy!

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite poems were Maskosiy and Cruel Momentum. I’ll definitely be reading more from Hunt.

[Jeffrey Greening · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that there is Cree word for “squirrel grease”. A good collection of poems from a Cree perspective.

[Lisa Stice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is full of surprising perspectives. It's very much about grief, but approaches the topic in multiple unexpected ways.