Description

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You Might Be Sorry You Read This is a stunning debut, revealing how breaking silences and reconciling identity can refine anger into something both useful and beautiful. A poetic memoir that looks unflinchingly at childhood trauma (both incestuous rape and surviving exposure in extreme cold), it also tells the story of coming to terms with a hidden Indigenous identity when the poet discovered her M tis heritage at age 38. This collection is a journey of pain, belonging, hope, and resilience. The confessional poems are polished yet unpretentious, often edgy but humorous; they explore trauma yet prioritize the poet's story. Honouring the complexities of Indigenous identity and the raw experiences of womanhood, mental illness, and queer selfhood, these narratives carry weight. They tell us "You need / only be the simple / expression of the divine / intent / that is your life." There is a lifetime in these poems.
About the Book:
- You Might Be Sorry You Read This is a stunning debut, revealing how breaking silences and reconciling identity can refine anger into something both useful and beautiful.
- A poetic memoir that looks unflinchingly at childhood trauma and the writer's experience of PTSD.
- It also tells the story of coming to terms with a hidden Indigenous identity; the poet discovered her M tis heritage at age 38.
- This collection is a journey of pain, belonging, hope, and resilience.
- The confessional poems are polished yet unpretentious, often edgy but humorous; they explore trauma yet prioritize the poet's story.
- Honouring the complexities of Indigenous identity and the raw experiences of womanhood, mental illness, and queer selfhood, these narratives carry weight.
- There is a lifetime in these poems.
- Author website: www.michellepoirierbrown.ca

"I was raised in a family that acknowledged my mother's Ukrainian heritage, but was oblivious to my father's hidden Indigenous identity. As a child, I was sometimes asked if I was Chinese. As an adult, there was a quality to my encounters with Indigenous people that I didn't understand--until I learned to see myself as my husband, neighbours, and colleagues already saw me."

Audience:
This book fits with confessional and trauma writing. The most obvious market is the literary community and readers, particularly people who read Indigenous poetry. The accessible style will appeal to people who don't usually read poetry, and the book can be expected to generate a readership among M tis people, among settlers who have an interest in deepening their understanding of Indigenous experience, and feminists and people who identify as queer. Another key market is university instructors teaching Literature, Creative Writing, Gender Studies, Women's Studies, and Indigenous Studies.

About the Poet:
Michelle Poirier Brown is an internationally-published poet, performer, and photographer. She is n hi aw-iskw w and a citizen of the M tis Nation. A feminist activist and retired federal treaty negotiator, Poirier Brown now lives in Lekwungen territory (Victoria, BC).