The World After Rain: Anne's Poem

by Canisia Lubrin

“How incandescent the language is, each line emitting light through the membrane of time and anticipated grief. The work has a rigorousness, the poet pushing through the ache of experience from the first to the last word.”—Dionne Brand

In this stunning new poem, Canisia Lubrin’s signature epic vision distills her elegy to her mother, along an interwoven and unresolvable axis of astonishment that belongs as much to history as to today. Her lucid attention to what might be the oldest metaphor for grief is drawn from the searing gravity and resonance of the modern poet’s decisive, interior, and inexpressible meditation on love, time, and loss in the excesses of life’s ambitions.

woman from fine-print time, disclose to the
the forecast of our noontime births outdoors; how I distrust
every form of authority, chiefly my own astonishment
this poisoned wish is why I love, I bow to deserts,
these claychildren of forests everywhere
I love the rain, this is no secret, I love the solar wind;
hold their elliptical life in the wasteland of our third mouths
where flowers are invisible and bones are sanded and amusing,
and every heliopause cloud senses our head, how we astonish
our memories vining where no shade is enough,
since many who’ll feed me will refuse me their names,
and good, who knows what bargains I would make
with their meanings, more bundles of thyme . . .
tournaments of family recipes with you at my question,

Genres: Poetry

256 pages, Paperback

Published February 3, 2026

About the author

Canisia Lubrin is a writer, editor, and teacher. Her books include the acclaimed and awards-nominated Voodoo Hypothesis and The Dyzgraphxst, nominated for ten prizes, finalist for the Trillium and Governor General’s awards for English poetry, and winner of the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the Griffin Poetry Prize, and the Derek Walcott Prize. Lubrin was also awarded the 2021 Joseph Stauffer Prize in literature by the Canada Council for the Arts. Poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart, she is the Creative Writing MFA Coordinator in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph. In 2021, she was awarded a Windham-Campbell prize for poetry. Lubrin’s debut work of fiction is Code Noir: Metamorphoses.
Born in St. Lucia, Lubrin lives in Canada.

Reviews

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really excited to read The World After Rain: Anne’s Poem by Canisia Lubrin since I enjoyed Code Noir. This book is an elegy for her mother and I really enjoyed it. I read each of the three parts in three different sittings so I could take my time with this writing. I’d love to see the print version too!

Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for my ARC!

[milliebrewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

ah serendipity! bought this at a local book sale despite never having heard of it or the author before, and i was blown away! this is a stunning depiction of the pain of watching someone you love slowly slip away, whilst knowing there is nothing you can do to save them or reduce their suffering. it's also a beautiful elegy to the personal histories that are lost to death, and our inability to ever truly know those closest to us.

it's very dense and can occasionally come across as a random jumble of words, but once i got into the rhythm i couldn't put it down. as with all poetry, i accepted all the lines i could understand, and comfortably released those that i didn't, no pressure to fully 'get' it.

[Rhiley Jade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the E-ARC! This E-ARC was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this collection fell flat for me. I couldn't follow along with the continuous string of words, they didn't seem to form a cohesive thought which made it all jumbled and hard to understand. It felt like a bunch of pretty, big words used to convey a lot of nothing.
I didn't enjoy my time reading this one much at all.

[Elahe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Honestly I went into this book hoping for something emotionally rich and memorable, unfortunately the execution of most of them fell flat to me. Some of the verses were incoherent to me.
The emotions were there, but I couldn't connect with the way they were conveyed.

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

The World After Rain is a book of poetry unlike any I have read before. There are three poems, rather than a large collection, but it allowed more time to explore the themes. The writing style is not for me, but others will appreciate it.

Thank you to the publisher for the e-copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Andrea (Hammock and Read) · Rating 2 out of 5]

one long epic style poem- broken into 3 sections. just didn't connect - but might be for someone else

[Dol Leander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recieved as a physical ARC from the publisher. This book is a lovely elegy for Lubrin’s late mother, exploring the emotional depth of life and death. There’s the true feeling of grief that comes through in her words. You feel every beat of someone scrambling to feel steady while drowning in all the complexities  that come after a loss. Her sorrow, anger, and regrets all come flooding out into what is a beautiful collection.

[Nicole Perkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The World After Rain” is Canisia Lubrin’s elegy to her mother. Her poems give us the sensation of how it feels to be floundering, drowning in emotion when faced with such a loss. There is anger as well as sorrow in the poems, hurt and regret, such emotions as one feels following any kind of loss. When the floodgates of sorrow open, these kinds of poems are born.