CROW by Cornelia Hoogland

Crow finds itself in love and loss, in death and rebirth, and most of   all in flight. The poems of the manuscript screech volumes without needing the elaborate ululations other songbirds might provide; the black, sparse simplicity of the crow allows the relatable, universal imagery of these poems to shine as the narrator writes through pain, loves through hardship and doubt, lives for her family, and moves on for herself. A reader may find themselves digging deeper and deeper, hoarding eye-catching metaphors and running into themselves in the crow’s mirror.

“With a nod to the obsidian darkness of Ted Hughes, a place where crow feathers gleam like sweat on a boxer’s brow, Cornelia Hoogland shows how our compassion for the enemies of peace holds a mirror to our own violent and antagonistic shortcomings. Crow is a collection that calls out from the backyards, the private moments and the global conflicts that shape our understanding with stark grace and the subtle obscenity of nature.” — Robert Earl Stewart

Hoogland says of her 6^th book “Everywhere on Haida Gwaii, B.C., the communities of crows and ravens are vivid.  Being in their presence and hearing their strong talk changed my life.  I stood on the beach at Rose Spit where the world began; where, from out of the clam shell, Raven plucked the first humans.  In the gravel margins of the Trans Canada, and in the backyards and alleys of my many homes in cities across Canada, raven’spoor cousin, crow, has been excellent company.”

Read the latest review in the University of Windsor’s “The Lance“.