In her first poetry collection in more than a decade, celebrated novelist and poet Lynn Crosbie creates a sustained and confessional record of her father’s illness.

The Corpses of the Future is a sustained, confessional new collection of poems by Lynn Crosbie. It tells the story of her father’s battle with frontotemporal dementia and blindness following a stroke. The poems chronologically recount the poet’s conversations and time with her father and capture his still-astonishing means of communicating. The book’s title is his sardonic remark. Crosbie considers dementia to be a symbolic language, and as such similar to poetry. The author’s attempts to understand her father’s distress, pain, fear, and brave love are assisted by her understanding of the “negative capability” required of readers of poetry.

This is a harrowing book, with moments of joy and even levity. It is a collection of poetry about love, and love’s persistence, even under the most unspeakable circumstances.

Poet, author, and novelist Lynn Crosbie was born and raised in Montreal. An award-winning journalist and cultural critic, she has written about fashion, sports, art, and celebrity. She has a Ph.D. in English literature and a background in visual studies; she teaches at the University of Toronto and the Ontario College of Art and Design. Her volumes of poetry and prose include Queen Rat, Dorothy L’Amour, and Liar. She is the author of the controversial book Paul’s Case, about the Paul Bernardo–Karla Homolka murders, as well as the novels Life Is About Losing Everything and Where Did You Sleep Last Night, a Trillium Book Award finalist. Her most recent book is a collection of poems about her father, entitled The Corpses of the Future.

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• Commended, A GLOBE AND MAIL TOP 100 BOOK

Crosbie at her best.

Hamilton Review of Books

[U]nswerving in honesty and high in impact. . . . You'd have to be half-dead or worse not to weep, rejoice and rage when the speakers of these poems take you to the edge and offer ‘some faint, still powerful memories, of love and mercy’ as salve.

Globe and Mail