Swollening

Jason Purcell's debut collection of poems rests at the intersection of queerness and illness, staking a place for the queer body that has been made sick through living in this world. Part poetic experiment and part memoir,Swolleningattempts to diagnose what has been undiagnosable, tracing an uneven path from a lifetime of swallowing bad feelings - homophobia in its external and internalized manifestations, heteronormativity, anxiety surrounding desire, aversion to sex - to a body in revolt.

In poems that speak using the grammar and logics of sickness, Purcell offers a dizzying collision of word and image that is the language of pain alongside the banality of living on. Beginning by reading their own life and body closely and slowly zooming out to read illness in the world, Purcell comes to ask: how might a sick, queer body forgive itself for a natural reaction to living in a sick world and go on toward hope? InSwollening, Purcell coughs up their own poetics of illness, their own aesthetics of pain, to form a tender collection that lands straight in the gut. (From Arsenal Pulp Press)

Jason Purcellis a writer and musician from amiskwaciwaskahikan, Treaty 6 (Edmonton),where they are also the co-owner of Glass Bookshop.Swolleningis their first full-length collection.

• 26 Canadian books to read for Pride Month
• 22 debut Canadian poetry collections to read for National Poetry Month
• 'It feels like an achievement,' says bookstore owner celebrating 2nd Independent Bookstore Day in a pandemic
• Canadian Independent Bookstore Day encourages readers to shop local

From the book

Interviews with Jason Purcell