Something for Everyone
From rich interzonal poems, to embracing change, magical mermaids, and rich Canadiana, here are four books that offer something for everyone.
ZZOO by MA|DE, Palimpsest Press
What a marvellous visual feast, this book is. The typography and design is clean, sharp, intricate and detailed. I love all MA|DE’s covers and this one is a masterclass in kerning and balance, with flowing colours that arrest the eye and let you know you’re in for a surrealistic, realistic, startling read—startling in the best possible way.
Open to the inside front cover to swans, a double exposure, full colour—beautiful.
Then the table of contents, and oh, the titles of each work is just delightful. Three of my favourites: They Eat Them Weeping, Vertical Logic at the Crossroads of the World, Apocalypse Parrot Screams for Vengeance, and Then The Darkness Talks Back.
There are five chapters; Water, Land, Air, Elsewhere and Taxidermia.
And then, what a marvellous cerebral feast, this book is. A marriage of nature, philosophical musings and empathetic insights.
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BLUE SUNLIGHT
Restless, we blue the sky together.
The sea is jealous of those who
don’t swallow their treasures.
-.-
THEY EAT THEM WEEPING
Civilization is a very thin veneer, a drop in the swamp to regret later
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The typographically exquisite shape poem, VORTEX:
Its dramatic vanishings triangulate the space
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And the poem does just that.
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ZOOMORPHS
We believe we have subdued
the brute animalism within us;
…
A creature sleeps beneath
The Janus mask of our civility
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I love this from FURVERTS:
A hamster is running rampant
Across the keys. Read the text
that spools across the screen,
human words in bestial mouths:
They’re Gr-r-reat!
Feeding on milk-soaked
anthropomorphic dreams,
we’ll go looking
for each other
out where the internet
never ends
-.-
I loved the almost brutal depictions of our lost animalism and how we’ve unwittingly engineered our demise, destroying instinct, seeking online approval, drowning in the oceans of AI generated, dumbed-down instant WikiColes Notes that border on mildly incorrect so as to massively mislead.
-.-
Read THE TAIL which says is all:
Laughter is a sublimation of pain. The crowd
does not give its applause; this joke never quite
worked, did it? But on we go, a little shaggy,
unsure of what genre we are performing.
-.-
What genre are we performing indeed? Humankind is a surging mass on YouTube or starving on a continent, dying of diseases, while crops fail.
-.-
FLASHBACK TO THE CRAB NEBULA
Memory reverberates throughout a life;
wide, white. When we notice it, it dazzles,
dying light of a star that cannot make crops grow,
loved only by the lonely cowboys sleeping beneath it.
-.-
To conclude, what I love about ZZOO is that it encapsulates the now with vivid, original and often mind-blowing artistic expressions, urging us to reconsider, to look, to see, to think boldly, to embrace the thinning differentiation between us and animals, as we self-mutate away from the human and into an unknown genre.
I don’t have a tattoo but if I ever get one, it might be this, from page 107.
Kudos, MA|DE!
-.-
THE ONLY CONSTANT by Najwa Zebian, Penguin Random House
I first learned of Najwa Zebian on the subway.
2024 was a tough year. Many of my stalwart friends turned out to be not-very-stalwart at all and I felt awfully alone. I was travelling on the east west subway line from Scarborough, my PSW uniform rumpled and stained from the day, bearing evidence of suffering lives destroyed by illness and pain.
I felt like a tiny insignificant particle in the cosmic dust of life but then I looked up and read Najwa’s poem:
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"To All of the Lights” by Najwa Zebian
To all of the lights
who chose to dim
when I was in the darkness,
thank you for teaching me
that my own light
is all I need.
-.-
It blew me away. it strengthened my resolve and, most importantly, it strengthened my trust in myself. I was my own light.
I bought of copy of The Only Constant and I highly recommend it. It’s incredible how Najwa Zebian reaches deep into one’s soul, the soul that is seeking to become its peaceful, authentic self.
The truth is, change is the only constant but so am I.
I am the only constant that I can rely on and, with the help of books like The Only Constant, inner peace is possible, even in a time of upheaval and war.
“Let your world revolve around you by not constantly feeling like you’re doing something wrong. Own it. Don’t close your eyes when the explosion of your authentic life happens. Open your eyes to the glory unfolding in front of you.”
I also loved this: “I give myself credit for all the changes I’ve made in my life.”
How empowering is that? This book will show you that you are the leader of your own life, that being the centre of you own attention is not the same as being selfish, and that radical acceptance can release you from much suffering.
Najwa Zebian brings a wealth of healing insights and I will return to this book and I look forward to reading her poetry: Mind Platter, The Nectar of Pain, Sparks of Phoenix and her non-fiction work: Welcome Home: A Guide to Building a Home for Your Soul.
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THE SCIENCE AND SPIRIT OF SEAWEED
Discovering Food, Medicine and Purpose in the Kelp Forests of the Pacific Northwest
By Amanda Swinimer, Harbour Publishing
What a gorgeous book! What a nourishing, magical, beautiful, grounding book.
I learned so many fascinating facts: in Japanese, the character for “sea” is a union of “water” and “mother” and in Japan, archaeological finds show evidence of harvesting and eating of seaweeds from as early as 6000 BCE. In Korea, two species of brown seaweeds have been found in fossilized meals dating back to 10,000 years ago.
In the Ebers papyrus, the oldest preserved medical text in existence, the ancient Egyptian text, dated 1536 BCE recommends a seaweed for the treatment of breast cancer.
As Swinimer says: “Seaweeds are shrouded in wonderful mystery. Part plant, part animal and at times, fungi-like, they have been revered by coastal cultures the world over as food, medicine, ceremonial props and the subject of myths.”
I fell in love with Mazzaella splendens, a shimmering, glistening seaweed, also known at rainbow seaweed. Swinimer mentions it as a spa treatment: “Rainbow seaweed is absolutely wonderful to bathe with and is deeply therapeutic. In warm, fresh water, its surface dissolves into a silky, spreadable gel, which I rub onto my skin, especially on my face and around my eyes. You can leave it on after your bath is done to receive even more benefit.”
Doesn’t that sound amazing?
I had no idea there were this many kinds of seaweed: chlorophyta (green), rhodophyta (red), phaeophyceae (brown), with many variations of each.
And, disco jellyfish! This book truly is a visual delight, the photography alone is worth lingering on each page. The spiritual experience of being underwater in a kelp forest sounds transcendental.
I have always loved the Hawaiian Ho`oponopono prayer:
I’m sorry
Please forgive me
Thank you
I love you
Which can be recited in any order and, in this book, I learned that the Hawaiian seaweed limu kala is used in sacred ceremonies, along with this prayer, for forgiveness and reconciliation.
And there are the benefits to our immune system, to aid in toxic cleansing, radiation protection, protection against pathogenic bacteria and viruses, parasites and allergies, chronic diseases, a healthy gut, respiratory support, bone health, endocrine, sexual and reproductive health, metabolic health and mental health, to combat fatigue, stress and aid with sleep.
The book also has seaweed recipes including Wild Watercress, Kelp and Cauliflower Soup with Crispy Fermented Jerusalem Artichokes which just sounds delicious.
One day I hope to wear a seaweed feather boa, Egregia menziesii, and immerse myself in the sea, surrounded by seaweed.
“I must be a mermaid … I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.
– Anaïs Nin
And Swinimer, magical mermaid, takes us to these depths, with this book.
I really hope you’ll check out this book because I can’t do it justice. It’s a thoroughly researched and documented encyclopaedia of sea magic, with illustrations, underwater photography, recipes, healing insights and a bounty of fascinating seaweed facts.
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In a time when supporting Canada has never been more important, what better book to pick up, to take your mind off things (and support Canada!), than the bestselling O CANADA CROSSWORDS BOOK 25 by Gwen Sjogren, Nightwood Editions.
Now, in full disclosure, I am not a cruciverbalist, a term I just looked up for a person who creates or solves crossword puzzles, but my husband most certainly is!
He does a lot of online crosswords and I can always tell when he’s mired in one because efforts to chat are met with “Hmmmm?” or “What was that?” and I’m glad to say that I’ve lost him to this book which makes me really happy!
He says its so great to do a puzzle with Canadian content, and while he’s using a pencil and not a pen, he says it’s great to hold a book, rather than his laptop.
I paged through it and was hugely impressed – this book’s full of fun brain teasers – 85 amazing crosswords!
If you’re looking for the perfect gift for the cruciverbalist in your life, or if you’re one yourself, get hold of a copy today to get your brain firing on all cylinders and support Canada!
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Thank you Palimpsest Press and Harbour Publishing for the generosity of these review copies. B/g art by Vecteezy.