The Willow Walk

Brandi Bird's frank, transcendent poetry explores the concepts of health, language, place, and memory in this long-anticipated debut collection.

Brandi Birds long-anticipated debut poetry collection, The All + Flesh, explores the concepts of health, language, place, and memory that connect its author to their chosen kin, blood relatives, and ancestral lands. By examining kinship in broader contexts, these frank, transcendent poems expose binaries that exist inside those relationships, then inspect and tease them apart in the hope of moving toward decolonial future(s). Birds work is highly concerned with how outer and inner landscapes move and change within the confines of the English language, particularly the I of the self, a tradition of movement that has been lost for many who dont speak their Indigenous languages or live on their homelands. By exploring the landscapes the poet does inhabit, both internally and externally, Birds poems seek to delve into and reflect their cultural lineagesspecifically Saulteaux, Cree, and Métisand how these transformative identities shape the person they are today.

I am made of centuries & carbohydrates
the development of my molars
the hunger the teeth grew
has been with me since childhood
I cant escape the mouths of others