Heart's Hydrography

by Sally Ito

In her fourth book of poetry, Sally Ito traverses the complex channels and tributaries of a heart mapped by the ineffable pull of family and faith. In Ito's careful hands, this same heart becomes ocean and cathedral, a hallowed space in which poetic organ-song crystalizes into poems resonant with hope, love, doubt, and longing. Heart's Hydrography charts the vital ebb and flow between the personal and the divine.

122 pages, Paperback

Published October 5, 2022

About the author

Sally Ito is a writer, translator and editor and creative writing instructor who lives in Winnipeg, Canada. She has published four books of poetry -- Frogs in the Rain Barrel, Season of Mercy, Alert to Glory, Heart's Hydrography and a collection of short stories, Floating Shore. She has been a former judge for the late Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book prize as well as a blog contributor and reviewer to the multicultural children's literature blog, PaperTigers. She has also written a blog on the late Margaret Avison called Month with Margaret: http://monthwithmargaret.blogspot.ca/
Her two translated books with co-translators Michiko Tsuboi are Are you an Echo: The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko and with co-translators Joanne Epp and Sarah Klassen, Wonder-Work: Selected Sonnets of Catharina Regina Von Greiffenberg.

Reviews

[Shaniah Tamayose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit too religious for me. I am a Christian who attended Catholic school but the way it was written made it very hard to understand. I don’t believe poetry always needs to be like Shakespeare for it to be moving. It was hard to follow some of the metaphors and there were hardly any pages that did not talk about faith or snow. I hate giving this review as it was a local writer but it just didn’t do anything for me.

[Zoë · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this so much! my favourite poem is probably Bleeding Woman. ❤️

[Sheri-lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the following Sections were my fav:
Snow Globe in the Riverbank
River in Me is Dried Up
O Anti-phons