Pitiful: Poems

by Brandi Bird

“This poem begins where Bulimia ends


or maybe, just maybe, when it started. Where


the differential diagnosis is confused


by decades of self-made violence. Poverty,


colonialism, god, all prisms that will shatter


one day, if not now…”







Part self-interrogation, part confession, part hospital diary, the intense, heartbreakingly frank poems in Brandi Bird’s second collection detail the author’s ongoing struggles with eating disorders and depression, conditions that disproportionately afflict Indigenous girls, women, and two-spirited persons. These challenging poems investigate the relationship between sexuality and eating disorders as well as how the voyeurism of religion (the idea of being eternally watched) intersects with both of those spheres. They also raise questions about body shaming and body sovereignty—a failed sovereignty in this case, as "sovereignty" itself is a communal concept. In the tradition of poets like Amy Berkowitz (Tender Points) and Hannah Green (Xanax Cowboy), the poems in Pitiful also lay bare the way patriarchy, medical sexism, and bigotry have not only sabotaged the treatment of such conditions but often make them worse.

Genres: Poetry, Indigenous

96 pages, Paperback

Published April 7, 2026

Reviews

[szreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great collection of poetry. Some are dedicated to ppl others are not and there’s pop culture references like Buffy and Supernatural intermixed with more serious topics on illness, recovery, race, and survival.

My favourite poems

-ELEVEN
-I AM, I AM, I AM
- THINGS I HAVE WANTED TO DEVOUR

Many poems I found myself reading again and again.

[Tara McGowan-Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the first time in decades, a Canadian has written a genuinely dangerous book. PITIFUL is an act of God, and Brandi Bird is NARCAN-ing our literary culture back from the brink of extinction.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so eager to read this new poetry collection by Bird since their 2023 collection The All + Flesh was one of my fave poetry reads that year. I loved these poems too! I loved the raw and intense honesty in these autobiographical poems that share their experiences with mental health, eating disorders, and hospitalization. I enjoyed how the book opened with the poem titled Autobiography which sets the tone for the book and ends with the final poem Mirror which is a villanelle. I took my time reading these poems over two weeks and let the intensity sink in. My fave poem in this collection is Brandi Bird which is part diary, self reflection, and candid meditation. I’m so glad I got to read these insightful poems!

Thank you to House of Anasi for my gifted review copy!

[ritareadthat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initial thoughts: We look for ourselves in the words of others—is that not why we read? Finding yourself—if even a slivered fragment—is gratifying, humbling, and empowering; it is a feast or famine moment that resides hidden within the layers of ourselves.

Brandi Bird has provided a feast within the pages of Pitiful: Poems. The irony in my words is laced with the moments of every bite that the author chose to consume, or not. They reach into their past and extract these moments that comprise the whole of their being: sexual self-discovery at a young age, desire and disgust at the shape of their own body, tears shed in anger and pain, words spoken to be seen or heard at the mercy of doctors, nurses, and patients.

We burn with the process of self-discovery, yearning and hopeful for the knowledge of who we are—WHY we are. Brandi's words are the echo in the silence. They ARE the burning flame.

More words to come from me in a few days. As with anything that I read that affects me deeply, my chest is torn open, heart laid bare and raw, the weeping bird is nestled inside, seeking comfort.

🙏🏻

Many thank yous to House of Anansi Presa for the gifted copy of the book in exchange for my honest thoughts!

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover spoke to me immediately. The hand in itself is deeply visceral and made me very emotional.
The words inside this book are so powerful. So raw.

I cannot effectively put into words how Pitiful made me feel.

My favourites:
Relapse
Eleven
Page 29 (the words on this page, wow.)
Clot
Ode To Ghosting (The Story Of You & Me)
Unkind
Other Woman

My thanks to House Of Anansi Press for this gifted copy!

[Sofie · Rating 5 out of 5]

full review to come!

[Özten · Rating 5 out of 5]

pussy-bleached underwearrrrr