Myth

by Terese Mason Pierre

Overview

Myth, the much-anticipated debut collection from the multi-talented Terese Mason Pierre, weaves between worlds (‘real’ and ‘imaginary’) unearthing the unsettling: our jaded and joyful relationships to land, ancestry, trauma, self, and future. In three movements and two interludes, the poems in Myth move symphonically from tropical islands to barren cities, from lucid dreams to the mysteries of reality, from the sea to the cosmos. A dynamic mix of speculative poetry and ecstatic lyricism, the otherworldly and the sublime, Pierre’s poems never stray too long or too far from the spell of unspoiled nature: “The palm trees nod / at the ocean / the ocean does / what it always does / trusts the moon completely.”

Friends ‘with benefits’ tour the wonders of Grenada’s landscapes; extraterrestrials visit the Caribbean and the locals don’t seem phased; red birds “saunter airily like tourists,” La Diablesse lures helpless suitors to their dooms. This collection asks: How can myths manifest themselves in our daily lives? What do we actually mean when we say we love ourselves and others? And how do we pursue/create futures that honour our truths, histories and legacies?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487013042
Publisher:	House of Anansi Press
Publication date:	04/01/2025
Pages:	120
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

TERESE MASON PIERRE is a Toronto-based writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Walrus, ROOM, Brick, Quill & Quire, Uncanny Magazine, and Fantasy Magazine, among others. One of ten winners of the Writers’ Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize, she was named a Writers’ Trust Rising Star. Terese Mason Pierre is an editor at Augur, a Canadian journal of speculative literature, and the author of Myth (House of Anansi Press), a collection of poetry.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Myth is aptly titled for it is as vast as the word’s implication … The diaspora is indeed everywhere because, in Mason Pierre’s thrillingly versatile language, it is as large as the cosmos and as intimate as the soul.” —Wayde Compton, author of The Outer Harbour

“Myth closely captures the way historicity and futurity move through us, not cleanly, but repetitively, snagging us with waves of ‘coloured truth’ and ‘layered violence’.” —Phoebe Wang, author of Waking Occupations

“In the world of these poems, the body is closer to the blue of the sky and grasp of the grass than it is in ordinary life … Once the poems have changed us, we might not be able to leave the world Terese Mason Pierre has made.” —Larissa Lai, author of The Lost Century

“This is poetry that swells, takes flight, and soars.”—Manahil Bandukwala, author of Monument and Heliotropia

“Lead by a voice that is reflective, poised, and self-assured, this is the kind of poetry that honours old tellings, that journeys to speculative imaginings.” —Whitney French, editor, Black Writers Matter

Editorial Reviews

A startling, transformative collection.” — Winnipeg Free Press

“Through the magic of her words, Myth explores our relationships to land, trauma, self, ancestry and the future— and asks how myths can manifest themselves in our everyday lives.” — Canadian Living

“These are poems as foundational as the earth or the ocean, offering sharp and astute first-person observational, declarative and descriptive lyrics … Myth is a striking and deeply complex debut.” — rob mclennan's blog

“What distinguishes Myth is not only its formal inventiveness, but its philosophical reach … A sustained inquiry into how we come to know ourselves through distance—temporal, emotional, and otherwise.” — The Seaboard Review

“These invisible connective structures from the tangible practical world of magic, devil, gods and myth do something, fulfil something, cross a gap of ache in a broken world. Such world-building in poetry permits a larger canvas than the obvious and given.” — The Miramichi Reader 

From the Publisher