the book of sentences (Brave & Brilliant)

Fantastically rooted in the local and in the family, the book of sentences captures small, quiet, and intimate domestic moments with snippets of grammar lightly held to themselves by lineation and punctuation. These poems move quickly, processing the wonder of the everyday with careful observation, speculation, memory, citation, and play.

Radically and everywhere metalingual, the book of sentences builds on mclennan’s previous meditation on domestic joys, the book of smaller and the work of other poets while naming its own writing in the vocabulary of linguistics. It proceeds in a family tuned series of adjustments, amendings, resistances, and acceptances, reflecting on parenthood, childhood, family far and near, the past, the present, and the future.

With finesse of phrase and rhythm, patience and savouring of the moment, and care for nuance and association, rob meclennan shares work that is meditative, witty, humorous, and tender. Conjuring a special sense of immediacy, the book of sentences affirms the wonder and pleasure of everyday life.