Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy: Poems

by Paul Vermeersch

It is the Third Millennium. The 20th century is a memory. Humans no longer walk on the moon. Passenger planes no longer fly at supersonic speeds. Disinformation overwhelms the legitimate news. The signs of our civilization’s demise are all around us, but hope is not lost. In these poems, you will find a map through our dystopia and protection from all manner of monsters, both natural and human made. Only the products of our imaginations — buildings and movies, daydreams and wondrous machines — can show us how to transform our lives. Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy is a survival guide for the Dark Age that lies ahead.

Genres: Poetry

120 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2018

About the author

Paul Vermeersch is a poet, multimedia artist, professor, and editor. His eighth collection of poetry, NMLCT, was published in September 2025 by ECW Press. Paul holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Guelph for which he received the Governor General's Gold Medal. He is currently a professor at Sheridan College where he serves as the editor-in-chief of The Ampersand Review of Writing & Publishing. He is also the senior editor of Wolsak and Wynn Publishers where he created the poetry and fiction imprint Buckrider Books. He lives in Toronto. Instagram: @paulvermeersch

Reviews

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poem titled Motel alone made reading this one entirely worth it, not that it wasn't good without it, I just really, really, loved that one.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.5

Overall, this was a good collection of poetry, and I enjoyed how it was themed as a dystopia. The poems were well written with some sarcastic humor mixed in, and I thought the concept of the entire collection was very unique.

I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Luigi Sposato · Rating 5 out of 5]

A traversal through the new world. This book is comprised of thoughtful and creative poems that challenge and set new boundaries for poetry.

Combines mystique with blatant truth. Love it.

[Kevin Kindred · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't remember the last time I read a volume of poetry cover to cover as if it were a novel. This book is playful and heart-breaking. Read it on a weekend to ensure a better week lies ahead.

[Nathaniel Darkish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very fun poetry collection. Good points were made amidst good writing, humor, cultural references, and more. I really liked it.

[Félicie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The future will be old and used. It will leak
from weakening joints, and the steam
seeping from worn-out hosepipes
will refract our holographs of the dead."

[Peter Darbyshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s like waking from a dream where you’ve been searching through the ruins for — what? Love? Hope? The way back to your world? Only you realize that you’ve been awake all along and the dreams you have are the moments of clarity amid all the madness. Or maybe it’s the other way around. How can you even tell anymore?

[Jeff Dupuis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Self-Defense for the Brave and Happy is a live virus vaccine for our times, inoculating the reader against the surreality of today’s headlines with a healthy dose of its own. Vermeersch’s poems, flavored with 1950s science fiction and Cold War paranoia, are like the dark lenses in John Carpenter’s They Live, providing a way to see our society more clearly as we race toward climate collapse. It’s not with a strict sense of dread the Vermeersch shows us the end, but wit, wonder, imagination and humor.

[Margo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watching Paul read is an incredible experience, the kind of poems that everybody listening just GETS INTO, rapt. That's how I had the opportunity to buy his book, though for some reason I was too shy to get it signed. Reading the book is like stumbling into weird fairytales of a parallel universe. I won't transcribe the entire poem "Bad at Flowers" here, but I'm tempted to…it's transcendent & silly/funny at the same time. Just wonderful. I plan on referring back to this title often now that it's on my poetry shelf.

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy: Poems by Paul Vermeersch is the poet's sixth collection of published poetry. Vermeersch is a poet, professor, artist, and editor. He is the author of several poetry collections, including the Trillium–award nominated The Reinvention of the Human Hand and Don't Let It End Like This Tell Them I Said Something.

Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy begins with the paranoia of the 1950s science fiction movie. The opening poem reads like a Soviet view of 1950s America. The poems move to a world without modern technology like transportation and architecture and into computer prompted poems. Radioact follows up with interesting but random poems. Nursery Rhymes for Nuclear Children continues the 1950s paranoia with redacted nursery rhymes like Doctor Doctor Oppenheimer and Hush:

Hush, little planet,
nothing to fear.
Papa’s gonna buy you
an atmosphere.

And if that atmosphere
has costs,
Papa’s gonna buy you
a holocaust.

The collection continues on with a mix of humor and an undercurrent of fear. This is a fun, sometimes campy, and nostalgic look at the world we once knew.

[Aya Bara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry is not my strong suit, but overall this collection left a positive impression. Some poems more than others, I will say, possibly because those others just went over my head. I'm not great at lingering, and poetry in general --- and these poems in particular --- definitely requires some lingering. I lingered where I was pulled in most, which was at least half of the poems, so take that for what you will from a non-poetry reader.

The book's design and quality is truly excellent. I was tempted to add a star just for that, but felt rating the content was more important on goodREADS.

[Margaryta · Rating 4 out of 5]

REVIEW FORTHCOMING

[somerventures · Rating 3 out of 5]

trying out poetry, this was better than others i’ve read, maybe just cause i like dystopian lit

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 5 out of 5]

PHENOMENAL. The perfect blend between the silly, strange and deeply profound critique of our world, humanity and the condition of humanity.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

fantastic!