Broken Dawn Blessings: Poems
Trillium Book Award–winning poet Adam Sol’s newest collection is made up of poems that are loosely linked to the traditional Jewish morning prayers, the Birkhot haShachar, which try to find moments of blessing in the midst of personal and public pain, shame, and worry

How do we respond to others’ pain, both the pain of those we love and the larger global pain of those we don’t know? In a religious context, a witness can offer blessing when those in the midst of suffering cannot. Taking on the responsibility of blessing, then, is a way to shoulder that burden for the sufferer. This presupposes the idea that blessing is a necessity — which may be a point up for debate.

In the context of his wife’s recovery from surgery, and with civic violence prevalent in his city, the speaker of these poems leans on the structure of the Birkhot haShachar (dawn blessings) to carve out space for empathy, complaint, and occasional flashes of wonder. These poems showcase Sol’s trademark blend of humor and lyric virtuosity, and display his familiarity with Jewish texts and traditions, but add a new intimacy and urgency that break new ground for one of Canada’s most respected poets. It is his most risky and most accomplished collection to date.
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Broken Dawn Blessings: Poems
Trillium Book Award–winning poet Adam Sol’s newest collection is made up of poems that are loosely linked to the traditional Jewish morning prayers, the Birkhot haShachar, which try to find moments of blessing in the midst of personal and public pain, shame, and worry

How do we respond to others’ pain, both the pain of those we love and the larger global pain of those we don’t know? In a religious context, a witness can offer blessing when those in the midst of suffering cannot. Taking on the responsibility of blessing, then, is a way to shoulder that burden for the sufferer. This presupposes the idea that blessing is a necessity — which may be a point up for debate.

In the context of his wife’s recovery from surgery, and with civic violence prevalent in his city, the speaker of these poems leans on the structure of the Birkhot haShachar (dawn blessings) to carve out space for empathy, complaint, and occasional flashes of wonder. These poems showcase Sol’s trademark blend of humor and lyric virtuosity, and display his familiarity with Jewish texts and traditions, but add a new intimacy and urgency that break new ground for one of Canada’s most respected poets. It is his most risky and most accomplished collection to date.
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Broken Dawn Blessings: Poems

Broken Dawn Blessings: Poems

by Adam Sol
Broken Dawn Blessings: Poems

Broken Dawn Blessings: Poems

by Adam Sol

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$19.95 
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Overview

Trillium Book Award–winning poet Adam Sol’s newest collection is made up of poems that are loosely linked to the traditional Jewish morning prayers, the Birkhot haShachar, which try to find moments of blessing in the midst of personal and public pain, shame, and worry

How do we respond to others’ pain, both the pain of those we love and the larger global pain of those we don’t know? In a religious context, a witness can offer blessing when those in the midst of suffering cannot. Taking on the responsibility of blessing, then, is a way to shoulder that burden for the sufferer. This presupposes the idea that blessing is a necessity — which may be a point up for debate.

In the context of his wife’s recovery from surgery, and with civic violence prevalent in his city, the speaker of these poems leans on the structure of the Birkhot haShachar (dawn blessings) to carve out space for empathy, complaint, and occasional flashes of wonder. These poems showcase Sol’s trademark blend of humor and lyric virtuosity, and display his familiarity with Jewish texts and traditions, but add a new intimacy and urgency that break new ground for one of Canada’s most respected poets. It is his most risky and most accomplished collection to date.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781770416062
Publisher: ECW Press
Publication date: 09/21/2021
Edition description: No Edition
Pages: 80
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Adam Sol has published four previous books of poetry, and one collection of essays, How a Poem Moves: A Field Guide for Readers of Poetry. He is the Coordinator of the Creative Expression & Society Program at the University of Toronto’s Victoria College. He lives in Toronto, Ontario

Read an Excerpt

Frees the Captive

מתיר עסורים...

A gypsy moth flutters my cup
of reconstituted orange drink.

Last night a raccoon was flattened
by a patrolling armored personnel carrier.
One of us is going to have to spatula
the carcass into a dumpster
that isn’t burning.

The scan revealed
only that she has
a long repair horizon.

It’s true the lyric is merely
an instrument of escape
like a shiv filed
from a plastic spork.

On my deaf neighbor’s land,
the cubs are screaming in a tree.

Table of Contents

Waiting 1

On First Waking 7

Ducts and Conduits 9

Immerse 11

Blessing for Twitter 12

Reward without Measure 13

The Soul You Have Given Me 15

Restores the Dead 16

Gives the Rooster Understanding 17

The Little President 19

Elegy for a Youth Shot by Police on the Day Robin Williams Died 22

Who Made Me a Jew 25

Emptying the Drains 27

Not a Slave 29

Lacuna! 30

Public Expression 31

Neither Are You Free to Desist 33

(Going to) Where It's Happening 35

According to Your Will 37

It would have been preferable 39

Opens the Eyes 40

Clothes the Naked 42

Butcher 43

Frees the Captive 44

Frees the Captive, Again 45

It may be 46

Whale Fall Suspension 47

Lifts Up the Fallen 48

Spreads the Land over the Water 49

Last Summer at the Beach 51

Provides for My Needs 52

Makes Firm Our Steps 53

"You Reach the Conclusions" 54

Manifesto 56

Girds Us with Might 59

We Will Rebuild 60

That Such As These Are in Your World 62

Crowns Us with Glory 64

Gives Strength to the Weary 66

Removes Sleep from the Eyelids 67

Acknowledgements 69

Reading Group Guide

Frees the Captive
מתיר עסורים…
A gypsy moth flutters my cup of reconstituted orange drink.
Last night a raccoon was flattened by a patrolling armored personnel carrier.
One of us is going to have to spatula the carcass into a dumpster that isn’t burning.
The scan revealed only that she has a long repair horizon.
It’s true the lyric is merely an instrument of escape like a shiv filed from a plastic spork.
On my deaf neighbor’s land,
the cubs are screaming in a tree.

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