sulphurtongue

by Rebecca Salazar

An urgent, powerful examination of place and the ways in which all kinds of identities exist and collide.

GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR POETRY, FINALIST
PAT LOWTHER MEMORIAL AWARD, SHORTLIST
J. M. ABRAHAM ATLANTIC POETRY AWARD, SHORTLIST
GERALD LAMPERT MEMORIAL AWARD, LONGLIST

The poems in sulphurtongue ask how to redefine desire and kinship across languages, and across polluted environments. An immigrant family scatters over a stolen continent. Oracles appear in public transit, and online. Bodies are transformed by nearby nickel mines. Doppelgangers, Catholic saints, and polyamorists alike pass on unusual inheritances. Deeply entangled in relations both emotional and ecological, this collection confronts the stories we tell about gender, queerness, race, religion, illness, and trauma, seeking new forms of care for a changing world.

Genres: Poetry, Canada, Adult, Queer

120 pages, Paperback

First published March 23, 2021

Reviews

[Domenica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gothic, baroque, maximalist with soundplay that's both felt in your mouth and stuck in your ear, punning, and intentionally wince-and-cringe inducing. These poems use strokes of humour and colloquialisms not to undercut tension but to heighten and draw attention to it even if you want to look away. Powerful collection.

[b]

🖤🕸🕷🌲

[Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

ETA: A year later and I still think of images and ideas from this collection. It touched me more than I previously thought!

There’s some really poignant and thought-provoking stuff in here, but the collection feels very uneven. I almost would’ve preferred that this were separated into three or four collections.

I’m so glad someone finally wrote something about how lightly Trixie Mattel treats rape culture in her comedy routines though. It’s punching down disguised as catharsis and I don’t appreciate such humour.

That’s not the only subject dealt with here, though. It’s also about environmental racism, language and its inherent politics, love, being a part of the lgbtqia+ community as an immigrant Canadian and loss. Just to name some of subjects covered.

[Steph ✨]

hmmmm this wasn’t for me. i can recognize the creativity and complexity of this collection, but it really fell slat for me as a reader. at times the prose felt like i was reading the contents of a thesaurus in random order. the feeling of most of these poems was too deeply buried beneath the language for me to glean much from this collection.

[Ella Ratz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredible and I will probably read it again for the rest of my life

[Michi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am picky with poetry but this one really wowed me.

Nothing is better than poetry with such bravery. There is so much openness of love, loss, frustration, and vulnerability in a coalescence of identities. The poet has such a firm grasp of the language and the rhythm that they keep you hooked with every line.

Nevertheless, there are times where the absence of a comma should be in place or where enjambment could be fixed. Those times kept me thinking: damn, this could have blown my mind.

4.25 stars.

[jaye simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOLY HECK. This poem scooped me up and I read in two sittings (that’s very hard to do with my attention span). Each poem is so tenderly placed to create a cacophonous debut that left me in a field of thoughts to process. This collection had be sighing loudly, grabbing my heart and saying “oof” over and over again. I smiled and cried a little, the nuances and brilliance alone is astronomical. An absolute must read!

[Margaryta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn to Salazar's poems about her immigrant experience, some of which felt familiar and resonated with me, as well as the post-colonial poems focusing on landscape and environment. The imagery of pollution brought to mind the photography of Edward Burtynsky, making it all the more vibrant and unsettling.

[Sumaiya Matin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prompts reflection, and on the way we understand kinship and the inhabitance of a land, with masterful weaving and questioning of narratives about gender, religion, illness, etc. Wordplay is fabulous.

[Reese Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the poems were really beautiful and well crafted however some of them were so vague it was very difficult to figure out the plot of each one. Regardless her writing is beautiful and her vocabulary is incredible.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

stunning collection of poems written with vulnerability and intensity. salazar’s use of language, rhythm and wordplay demands readers attention. laced with of humour and colloquialisms this collection masterfully explores themes of identity, queerness, family, culture, and inhabitance of land.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thrilling poetry collection covering a range of experiences, places, and times. Salazar has a true gift for poetic images and seriously experiments with form throughout this collection. Countdown may be my favourite, but the whole of doppelbanger (which very much feels like a unit of poems) and of sulphur bonds were incredible, and Lake joke was truly haunting.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, highly reccomend!!

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd say it's good poetry, the shorter poems especially have strong points, but I just didn't connect with it. I'd recommend it to other people, though, even though it may not have been my best fit.

[Rachel | rach gets lit(erature)]

Idk how to rate poetry

[literasi junkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! surprised at how much nuance there is to be explored within post-colonial identity. i should do that in my own works 👀